Peter Gelb named to head Met

NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- New York's Metropolitan Opera has named Peter Gelb, a record company executive who managed the career of Vladimir Horowitz, as its next impresario.

Gelb is scheduled to join the Met next August and work for a year alongside the outgoing general manager, Joseph Volpe, reported the New York Times Saturday.

"The Metropolitan Opera was something I always dreamed about," said Gelb. "I've always grown up loving the Metropolitan Opera and thinking about it. For me it was always the epitome of everything exciting and glamorous in the performing arts."

Gelb, president of Sony Classical since 1995, was an usher at the Met at age 15. At the Met he will direct 850 full-time and 1,200 part-time employees and a budget of $204 million, along with 18 unions, scores of instrumentalists and temperamental stars.

The 2006-07 season is pretty much set, so Gelb's first impact will probably be on the next season.

"All the ingredients with Peter fit perfectly," said Beverly Sills, the Met board's chairwoman. "There's enormous musical background, enormous business background, marketing background, areas those of us inside the Met are very interested in dealing with."