Classical music: The shows will go on. Or so it seems as the Metropolitan Opera and two major labor unions reach agreement.

By Jacob Stockinger

Today’s post was supposed to be the second installment of my preview of the 25th annual Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, which starts this Saturday night and will focus on the 300th anniversary of the birth of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach.

But some breaking and important news has happened. So I will postpone the Token Creek follow-up for a day or two.

The big news is this: While not all the labor disputes have ended, the famed Metropolitan Opera (below, in a photo by Victor J. Blue of The New York Times) in New York City -– the largest opera company in the world -– has reached an agreement with two of the largest and most major unions.

The agreement involved far smaller concessions and rollbacks than the Met’s general director Peter Gelb (below) proposed.

The drama is not completely over. More negotiations are under way with other unions. But it now seems that the opening of the Met’s season -– and of the “Met Live in HD:” series – will NOT be postponed, as feared, by a lockout.

Here are two comprehensive stories.

The first is a radio story done by NPR (National Public Radio) by Jeff Lunden:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/08/18/341369803/met-opera-tentatively-settles-with-two-major-unions

The second story is from The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/arts/music/in-met-opera-deal-both-sides-give.html?_r=0

 

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: American Guild of Musical Artists, Arts, Bach, Baroque, C.P.E. Bach, Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, Chamber music, Classical music, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, Music, National Public Radio, New York City, New York Times, NPR, opera, Peter Gelb, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Trade union