Met Opera is once again using its resources to weather the recession

But the Met faces immediate challenges. Putting on a live opera is expensive and requires lavish sets, star singers and a much larger orchestra and choir than the biggest Broadway shows can offer. Inflation has made the opera company's burden even heavier, causing shipping and material costs to rise sharply. And ticket revenues from in-person appearances and theatrical broadcasts were down about $25 million last season from before the pandemic.

In addition to tapping its endowments, the Met said it would take steps to reduce costs and increase revenues as suggested by the Boston Consulting Group, which conducted a review of the company's operations on a pro bono basis.

The Met has already started giving fewer performances: 194 this season, down from 215 last season. It plans to change its programming in coming years so that each opera has a more compact run; they may currently have two or three short runs that can be spread out in the fall, winter and spring. This allows the company, which sometimes presents as many as four different operas over the course of a week, to have fewer operas in rotation at any given time.

And the plans call for more of the Met's most popular titles, such as Puccini's “La Bohème,” to be scheduled on weekends, when they generate significantly more revenue than lesser-known works. These changes, along with other cost-cutting measures and more targeted marketing efforts, are expected to generate approximately $25 million to $40 million annually for the company.

Even before the pandemic, the Met, the largest performing arts organization in the United States, with an annual budget of about $312 million, faced existential questions as the old model in which subscribers bought tickets to many productions each year faded.

The pandemic, which forced the company to close for more than a year and a half, exacerbated these problems. Many of the Met's older patrons no longer attended live performances and cinema broadcasts as often, leaving the company looking for new audiences.