# opera chorus members--who are they?



## crumpybumpy (May 22, 2016)

I just saw Nabucco (Plácido Domingo, Dmitri Belosselskiy, Liudmyla Monastyrska, Jamie Barton etc) at the Met Opera last night--my first time seeing that opera and wow it was incredible!!! My question is...all of the support cast that sing the choruses and act etc..who are they? Are they paid, and if so typically how much? Are they part of a "Met Opera Company" similar to how there is a New York City Ballet or ABT company? (Sorry for my noob-ish-ness)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

They are( paid) professionals and doing there job, just like other people do in day time.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

When there were discussions here about the bad economy of the Metropolitan Opera it was said that a choir singer had an annual income of 200 000 USD I will not have any judgment on that but it is more than prime ministers and presidents in some countries get.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

The Met website has an actual list of names, if you are interested in that.

Most of the more recent articles on the choristers of the Metropolitan Opera have focused on their compensation around the time the Met was negotiating contracts, but here is one on Donald Palumbo, the chorus master, that gives some insight into what it is like.

This is a (near decade old) article about San Francisco Opera's chorus, which at the time had 48 members in the Regular Chorus (the full-time squad), and mentions the Extra Chorus (part-time group, called upon based upon production requirements).

The Metropolitan Opera chorus works in a similar way (though they have a busier performance schedule than SFO, so they need a larger full-time chorus). There are a good number of full-time jobs that many people audition for. With the repertory system they are singing in rehearsals and performances of several different operas in any given week.


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## crumpybumpy (May 22, 2016)

mountmccabe said:


> The Met website has an actual list of names, if you are interested in that.
> 
> Most of the more recent articles on the choristers of the Metropolitan Opera have focused on their compensation around the time the Met was negotiating contracts, but here is one on Donald Palumbo, the chorus master, that gives some insight into what it is like.
> .


excellent article thank you!! Mr. Palumbo was on the stage at the end of Nabucco and we didn't know who he was but now I do!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

crumpybumpy said:


> excellent article thank you!! Mr. Palumbo was on the stage at the end of Nabucco and we didn't know who he was but now I do!


You see, one learns every day on Talk Classical.


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