Music: Opera Boss

WHEN I walk into Joe Volpe’s office, he’s just getting off the phone-with Luciano Pavarotti. Volpe is general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, only weeks from retirement. Pavarotti, of course, is the biggest opera star of our time (and that’s not a fat reference). The great tenor has been sick lately, and he’s essentially retired. But will he appear at Volpe’s farewell gala, scheduled for May 20? (The event will take place after this issue of the magazine goes to press.) That would really be something.

Volpe is thinking about more than his gala. His memoir is coming out, and he’s not very happy about what the publisher is doing to publicize it-way too little. But the book, I would wager, will sell. Called The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera, it’s blunt and interesting, just like Volpe. The Annie Leibovitz photo on the cover shows him glowering, just a bit. This certifies his reputation as the toughest guy who ever ran the toughest show.

About the Author

Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger was a senior editor of National Review and a book fellow at National Review Institute.

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WHEN I walk into Joe Volpe’s office, he’s just getting off the phone-with Luciano Pavarotti. Volpe is general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, only weeks from retirement. Pavarotti, of course, is the biggest opera star of our time (and that’s not a fat reference). The great tenor has been sick lately, and he’s essentially retired. But will he appear at Volpe’s farewell gala, scheduled for May 20? (The event will take place after this issue of the magazine goes to press.) That would really be something.

Volpe is thinking about more than his gala. His memoir is coming out, and he’s not very happy about what the publisher is doing to publicize it-way too little. But the book, I would wager, will sell. Called The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera, it’s blunt and interesting, just like Volpe. The Annie Leibovitz photo on the cover shows him glowering, just a bit. This certifies his reputation as the toughest guy who ever ran the toughest show.