The Met has been trying to cut the payroll costs for its highest-paid unions by 30% - the change in take-home pay would be more like 20%, it has said - and has offered to restore half the cuts when ticket revenue and core donations return to prepandemic levels.

The Met, the nation’s largest performing arts organization, has said that since the pandemic forced it to shut its doors it has lost an estimated $150 million in earned revenue, and that it was seeking pay cuts from its workers, as many arts institutions have. The Met said all involved were “working together for new agreements that will ensure the sustainability of the Met into the future.” The Met said in a statement that “we share Yannick’s frustration over the lengthy closure and the impact it has had on our employees,” and added that the company was pleased that its orchestra and chorus and others were now receiving bridge pay. “Protecting the long-term future of the Met is inextricably linked with retaining these musicians, and with respecting their livelihoods, their income and their well-being,” Nézet-Séguin wrote. The orchestra committee has said that 10 out of 97 members have retired during the pandemic as the ensemble has gone unpaid, a stark increase from the two to three who retire in an average year. The artists of the Met are the institution.”

“The orchestra and chorus are our crown jewels, and they must be protected. “We risk losing talent permanently,” Nézet-Séguin warned in the letter.

Met opera musicians