WE ARE
Committed to Opera
As the Met Orchestra enters its tenth month without salary, we fear that a Cultural Great Depression awaits society on the other side unless there is significant support for the artists who give the world hope and inspiration. The members of the Met Orchestra deserve the dignity which has been afforded to all other musicians who constitute America’s major orchestras.
Maestro Riccardo Muti beautifully expresses this in a statement to concerned citizens and supporters of the arts. Please, read these important words (text below and letter attached).
We are pleased to report that, in just 3 days, we have met Yannick Nezet-Seguin’s matching gift. This campaign has demonstrated the public’s support and affection for our great orchestra. We look forward to the day when we can bring music, “essential food for the mind and soul” back to our global community.
FULL STATEMENT TEXT:“The closure of the Metropolitan Opera House and the dramatic situation of its wonderful Orchestra embodies a profound grief, not only for the city of New York, but for the entire cultural world. Without music and the musicians who bring it to life, civil society is doomed to spiritual poverty and barbarism. Music is not entertainment, but rather, an essential food for the mind and soul.
The Met, its Orchestra, along with its artistic team and technical crews are a heritage of humanity. The artistic world is in disbelief that the very existence of a great Orchestra like the Met’s could be in danger and even at risk of disappearing.
My appeal, as a musician, as Music Director of the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and as a citizen of the world, is to give back to the musicians of the Met the dignity which we all deserve and the hope that they can soon return to share with us their art. We must support them during this unprecedented and terrible pandemic. The extensive and glorious history of the Met and its fabulous Orchestra cannot end in an artistic catastrophe. The world of Art, of Culture, and of Beauty would never forgive it! Moreover, future generations would suffer dearly the negative consequences.”
–Maestro Muti
