American in line for opera job

MICHAEL Kaiser, a New York arts administrator, is hot favourite to become executive director of the Royal Opera House.

Mr Kaiser, who runs the American Ballet Theatre, would immediately become involved in high-profile, high-stakes negotiations with unions representing orchestral musicians, the ballet company and the opera chorus.

Last week the ROH staff greeted with fury a rescue plan which involves closing the building for 11 months in order to deal with its mounting debts.

Mike Morris, the house's director of personnel, is writing to the unions tomorrow at the outset of negotiations that he promises will create "the biggest shake-up in employment in the arts since the end of the war". Without sweeping concessions from the unions, says Sir Colin Southgate, chairman of the board, the company will shut for good in January.

Horace Trubridge, London organiser of the Musicians' Union, views this as blackmail. "The Opera House sees us as the nut to crack. They are saying that unless we agree to dismantle the basic fabric of our profession, there will be no Opera House. It is a high-noon situation for the MU."

Mr Kaiser's appointment, expected to be announced within a fortnight, marks a significant U-turn by Sir Colin and the board. Originally, Sir Colin had intended to appoint a figure with hands-on experience of running an opera house. Mary Allen, the arts administrator who was the last general director, was removed to make way for this individual.

Mr Kaiser's experience, however, is entirely in administration. He has been executive director of the American Ballet Theatre since 1995. Before that he had been general manager of the State Ballet of Missouri and president of an arts management consultancy which bore his name.

A new artistic director is to be appointed before the end of the year. The favoured candidate was Brian McMaster, administrator of the Edinburgh Festival, but he has resisted the ROH's blandishments so far. Sarah Billinghurst, a New Zealander who is number two in the management of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, is still talking to the board.

There is also a possibility that a new music director will have to be appointed, since Sir Bernard Haitink is finding the strain of the permanent crisis at the ROH trying, especially after a heart by-pass operation this summer. Sir Simon Rattle has already been asked whether he is interested in the succession. Apparently he is not.

The orchestral musicians, who are the main target in the negotiations, are not the best-paid workers in the ROH. When the place is buzzing, they can earn up to 40 per cent more than their basic pay of pounds 20,723 to pounds 22,724 a year, but that still leaves them lagging behind the principal ballet dancers and the stagehands, who earn just over pounds 30,000.

The musicians are being targeted because of the rigidity of their agreement, which forces the management to pay overtime when rehearsals spill over into meal times and performances end late. The corps de ballet is in the same boat.

The management wants flexible agreements which do not guarantee a full year's pay. All ROH employees will go on short time next year, when the opera repertory is slashed, but the principle of less permanent employment will remain when the new house opens in December 1999. Management will also insist that no extra payments be made for broadcast performances, a basic principle for orchestral musicians.