Joseph Volpe, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera from 1990 to 2006, gave the annual Tolles Lecture, titled "The World Of Opera," on Sunday, Feb. 18, in the Chapel. Volpe spoke about his career with the Met and some of the issues involved in performing arts management. Each year, the Tolles Lecture Series brings distinguished speakers from the fields of literature, journalism and theater to Hamilton to lecture and meet with students.
President Joan Hinde Stewart began the event by speaking about the Tolles Lecture Series. The series was established in 1991 by members of the class of 1951 in memory of Winton Tolles, class of 1928 and dean of the college from 1947 to 1972. Stewart said that Tolles was truly a Hamilton legend, having touched the lives of thousands of students during his time at the college. The lecture series in his name, she said, reminds us of the close connection between the college and the Tolles family that continues to this day.
Associate professor of music Lydia Hammesley introduced Joseph Volpe, remarking on his many achievements as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, including increasing the length of the season, overseeing the world premieres of many operas, introducing the seat-back "Met Titles" system and instituting programs to engage children in opera.
Volpe began his talk by telling the story of a crisis he once dealt with as general manager of the Met. When an announcement is made before a performance that a featured performer will not be appearing, audiences can get ugly, Volpe said. The person making the curtain announcement is often booed, and sometimes the audience's anger is also carried over to the replacement singer. He told the story of how his plans for a gala fundraiser performance, including a live simulcast, were put in jeopardy when star Luciano Pavarotti was unable to sing. Volpe said that he put much thought into this curtain speech and eventually was able to come up with a way to announce it that did not anger the audience. He showed a video of the speech, with the audience thunderously applauding both him and the replacement tenor. This is just one of the many kinds of crises that one must deal with in managing performing arts, Volpe said.
Another issue in opera management is the unique economic problems presented by the performing arts. While other industries can lower their costs and increase profit margins through advances in productivity (for example, the ability to use less workers to make more cars in the same time), the reality of performing arts makes productivity growth difficult, if not impossible. "We can blame this on, among others, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," Volpe joked. If Mozart wrote a quintet for five performers, he said, it must be performed by that number and with that instrumentation. There is no way to make this performance more efficient or productive. In industries like the performing arts and higher education, where productivity is flat but costs often go up, a dilemma is created.
Volpe cited noted business commentator Peter Drucker, who once said that running an opera was the most complicated job he knew. Part of this difficulty comes from the importance of close relationships with the performers, Volpe said. For this reason, until recently the general manager of the Met was almost always a European who came from a traditional fine arts background. This was not his route, he said. Instead, Volpe began as a stagehand on Broadway and was taken with the idea of scenery creation. Having been told that the best scenery in the world was at the Metropolitan Opera, he jumped at an opportunity to work there. Because he was not a very good carpenter, he said, he was assigned to the set design office, where he learned about management, budgeting and planning. Later, Volpe rose through the ranks to become operations manager, a position which often involved dealing with labor unions.
Because of his unorthodox career path, Volpe said that the Met's board was at first reluctant to make him general manager. When they tried to install someone who they felt more accurately fit the mold, it was not a success, and Volpe became general manager several months later. He soon learned, he said, that in managing opera you deal with just as many prima donnas in the board room and auditorium as you do backstage, if not more.
Volpe spoke about the challenges that are facing the Met and opera in general. Economically, the fixed cost problem and declining subsidies for the arts are problems for opera company budgets. He mentioned several societal changes that have also decreased interest in and attendance at opera performances. People spend more time at work today than ever before, and when they are not at work they tend to spend more time with home entertainment than at public performances. Also, with a lack of arts education in schools today, operas and other performing arts companies are forced to take up the slack in educating young people about the arts. Lastly, long term subscriptions to opera have decreased in popularity because of audience members' desire for flexibility in a market with increasing competition for leisure dollars.
To address these problems, Volpe said that the Met is using various approaches to engage audiences, including changes to the season schedule, discounted prices and flexibility in ticket policies. During his tenure, the Met has entered into partnerships with educational institutions to engage young people and college students in the opera and has also made efforts to bring a more diverse group of people into the audience.
Volpe concluded his lecture by reminding the students in the audience to always jump at opportunities in their lives. "Always remember," he said, "it takes tenacious determination to undertake the struggle to achieve success, but with this determination, nothing is beyond your reach.
President Joan Hinde Stewart began the event by speaking about the Tolles Lecture Series. The series was established in 1991 by members of the class of 1951 in memory of Winton Tolles, class of 1928 and dean of the college from 1947 to 1972. Stewart said that Tolles was truly a Hamilton legend, having touched the lives of thousands of students during his time at the college. The lecture series in his name, she said, reminds us of the close connection between the college and the Tolles family that continues to this day.
Associate professor of music Lydia Hammesley introduced Joseph Volpe, remarking on his many achievements as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, including increasing the length of the season, overseeing the world premieres of many operas, introducing the seat-back "Met Titles" system and instituting programs to engage children in opera.
Volpe began his talk by telling the story of a crisis he once dealt with as general manager of the Met. When an announcement is made before a performance that a featured performer will not be appearing, audiences can get ugly, Volpe said. The person making the curtain announcement is often booed, and sometimes the audience's anger is also carried over to the replacement singer. He told the story of how his plans for a gala fundraiser performance, including a live simulcast, were put in jeopardy when star Luciano Pavarotti was unable to sing. Volpe said that he put much thought into this curtain speech and eventually was able to come up with a way to announce it that did not anger the audience. He showed a video of the speech, with the audience thunderously applauding both him and the replacement tenor. This is just one of the many kinds of crises that one must deal with in managing performing arts, Volpe said.
Another issue in opera management is the unique economic problems presented by the performing arts. While other industries can lower their costs and increase profit margins through advances in productivity (for example, the ability to use less workers to make more cars in the same time), the reality of performing arts makes productivity growth difficult, if not impossible. "We can blame this on, among others, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," Volpe joked. If Mozart wrote a quintet for five performers, he said, it must be performed by that number and with that instrumentation. There is no way to make this performance more efficient or productive. In industries like the performing arts and higher education, where productivity is flat but costs often go up, a dilemma is created.
Volpe cited noted business commentator Peter Drucker, who once said that running an opera was the most complicated job he knew. Part of this difficulty comes from the importance of close relationships with the performers, Volpe said. For this reason, until recently the general manager of the Met was almost always a European who came from a traditional fine arts background. This was not his route, he said. Instead, Volpe began as a stagehand on Broadway and was taken with the idea of scenery creation. Having been told that the best scenery in the world was at the Metropolitan Opera, he jumped at an opportunity to work there. Because he was not a very good carpenter, he said, he was assigned to the set design office, where he learned about management, budgeting and planning. Later, Volpe rose through the ranks to become operations manager, a position which often involved dealing with labor unions.
Because of his unorthodox career path, Volpe said that the Met's board was at first reluctant to make him general manager. When they tried to install someone who they felt more accurately fit the mold, it was not a success, and Volpe became general manager several months later. He soon learned, he said, that in managing opera you deal with just as many prima donnas in the board room and auditorium as you do backstage, if not more.
Volpe spoke about the challenges that are facing the Met and opera in general. Economically, the fixed cost problem and declining subsidies for the arts are problems for opera company budgets. He mentioned several societal changes that have also decreased interest in and attendance at opera performances. People spend more time at work today than ever before, and when they are not at work they tend to spend more time with home entertainment than at public performances. Also, with a lack of arts education in schools today, operas and other performing arts companies are forced to take up the slack in educating young people about the arts. Lastly, long term subscriptions to opera have decreased in popularity because of audience members' desire for flexibility in a market with increasing competition for leisure dollars.
To address these problems, Volpe said that the Met is using various approaches to engage audiences, including changes to the season schedule, discounted prices and flexibility in ticket policies. During his tenure, the Met has entered into partnerships with educational institutions to engage young people and college students in the opera and has also made efforts to bring a more diverse group of people into the audience.
Volpe concluded his lecture by reminding the students in the audience to always jump at opportunities in their lives. "Always remember," he said, "it takes tenacious determination to undertake the struggle to achieve success, but with this determination, nothing is beyond your reach.
