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The Metropolitan Opera’s high-profile arrangement with the Saudi Arabian government – a deal that would have delivered up to $200 million to the struggling company over eight years – has collapsed, The New York Times reports.
The original deal had drawn scrutiny given Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, including the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to the Times, Met general manager Peter Gelb confirmed that Saudi officials informed him of the decision during a Zoom call earlier this week, attributing the pullout to economic damage from the war in Iran and disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Gelb told the Times that the Saudis are now limiting their spending to essential projects and that the Met arrangement “falls outside what is essential.”
The deal, first announced in September, would have sent the Met to Riyadh’s Royal Diriyah Opera House for a three-week residency each February, a month the company has not used for performances in recent years. Though unveiled with considerable fanfare, the agreement was structured as a memorandum of understanding and never legally bound the Saudis to the funding, the Times noted.
The Met is now confronting a $30 million gap it needs to close before its fiscal year ends on July 31, with the possibility of larger shortfalls in years to come. The company had already moved pre-emptively in January, announcing layoffs, temporary salary reductions, and a trimmed performance schedule for next season in anticipation of exactly this outcome.
Other revenue strategies remain in play, including the previously announced plan to sell naming rights to the Metropolitan Opera House, and the potential private sale of the two Marc Chagall murals in the lobby – which, under the terms being discussed, would remain in place during the opera season. The Met is also expecting a bequest of more than $100 million, but the estate is not expected to settle for at least another year.
Next season’s schedule is set at 17 operas, down from 25 several years ago.
