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Notes & CommentsDecember 2008 Opera in New York: RIP? On Gérard Mortier and the City Opera. First it was the Metropolitan Opera. In 2006, when Peter Gelb took over as General Manager of the Met, after Joseph Volpe’s long and distinguished tenure, the critic Norman Lebrecht wrote sadly that Gelb’s “contempt for artistic values and his adulation of mass entertainment point to an historic shift in Met priorities.” And so it has come to pass. Mr. Gelb promised early and often to pander to, er … that is, to reach for “a broader audience” in order to halt what he described as the Met’s progress down “a declining slope toward extermination.” His answer? Slick marketing, an infatuation with movie stars and other celebrities, and “transgressive” productions that cater to a generation whose idea of spectacle is defined by Hollywood-style special effects. Mr. Gelb had to come to the Met in person in order to wreak havoc. Gérard Mortier, now head of the Pa ... This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchaseSubscribe to TNC (Print and Online editions) Subscribe to TNC (Online only) This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 27 December 2008, on page 2 Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Opera-in-New-York--RIP--3954
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