Reviews
The Wall Street Journal
Friday, 7 November 2003, p. A1
Behind Surging Productivity: The Service Sector Delivers Firms Once Thought Immune To Boosting Worker Output Are Now Big Part of Trend More Mozart For Less.
By Jon E. Hilsenrath
For more than 200 years, "The Marriage of Figaro" has been performed with a full orchestra. But when the Opera Company of Brooklyn stages the Mozart opera in January, the pit will be occupied by only 12 musicians -- and one technician overseeing a computer program that plays all the other parts.
As the U.S. enjoys explosive growth in productivity, with an 8.1% third-quarter gain reported Thursday, the effects are reaching into far corners of the economy. The low-budget opera company in Brooklyn saves enough money on musician salaries with its high-tech orchestra that it can offer more performances per season.[...]
Jay Meetze, director of the Opera Company of Brooklyn, says using virtual players reduces his cost of hiring musicians to a little bit more than $5,000 for each performance, compared with a typical rate of $15,000. The savings will allow him to begin a 24-performance tour of another Mozart piece, "The Magic Flute," in April.