Joseph Volpe (born July 2, 1940) is an American opera manager and arts management consultant. He is noted for his long association with the Metropolitan Opera, in which he served as general manager from 1990 to 2006. In all, he spent 42 years working at the Met in various capacities, rising rapidly to managerial positions. Since February 2016, he has been executive director of the Sarasota Ballet.
Early life
Volpe was born in Brooklyn in New York City, to an Italian family. While living in Long Island, he opened his own auto mechanic business in high school. After a fire at the auto garage, he worked as a theatrical carpenter on Broadway. In lieu of college, Volpe joined the Metropolitan Opera in August 1964 as an apprentice carpenter.
Career at the Metropolitan Opera
Rise from carpenter
Volpe became the Metropolitan Opera's master carpenter in 1966, having joined the company's carpentry division in 1964 as an apprentice. He became technical director of the Met in 1978. In 1981, he was appointed assistant manager of the Met, and retained that position for nine years. His accomplishments in that capacity included managing the company's re-entry into the commercial recording field.
Volpe became the opera's general manager in August 1990. He was the first head of the Metropolitan Opera to advance from within the ranks of the company's management.
Artistic management
As general manager, Volpe reduced the number of operas repeating from prior seasons and increased the overall length of the season. During his tenure, several world premieres were given, including commissions made under his aegis, such as Tan Dun's The First Emperor, presented in the 2006–07 season. The Met's repertory further expanded with 22 works given their Met premieres during Volpe's 16 seasons as general manager – more new works than under any general manager since Giulio Gatti-Casazza, who ran the company from 1908 to 1935.
Volpe expanded the Met's international touring activities. The company visited Spain's Expo '92, Germany in 1994, and Japan in 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2006. In addition, under Volpe, frequent tours and recordings of symphonic repertoire by the Met orchestra were inaugurated, as well as an annual series at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra made European concert tours in 1996 and 1999, and a tour of the United States in 1998. In August 2002, the orchestra gave concerts at the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Baden-Baden Festival and the Rheingau Musik Festival.
In 1994, Volpe terminated the contract of star soprano Kathleen Battle, due to repeated disruptive behavior. Future engagements with Battle were canceled as well.
Volpe named Russian conductor Valery Gergiev as the company's Principal Guest Conductor in 1997.
In 1998, Volpe instituted an education project for young children in cooperation with the New York City Department of Education and endowed by the Texaco Foundation. The program emphasizes direct experience with music and opera for students in New York City schools. The children come to the Metropolitan Opera House for backstage tours, followed by attendance at dress rehearsals, and artists from the Metropolitan Opera are frequently sent to participating schools for educational presentations. Volpe also established a partnership with the University of Connecticut that provides students from the music and drama departments with behind-the-scenes access to the creative processes taking place in the opera house. The Met outreach under Volpe also included the "Cultural Passport" program with the City University of New York (CUNY), offering a special program for honors students and teachers-in-training to familiarize them with opera.
Technical innovations
Volpe conceived and developed "Met Titles", which were introduced during the 1995–96 season opening night performance of Otello. This system provides individual screens for surtitles screens on the backs of the seats for those members of the audience who wish to utilize them, but with little distraction for those who do not.