The Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera
Name	The Metropolitan Opera
Caption	The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center
Location	Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City
Type	Opera company
Built	1966
Opened	1966
Seating capacity	3,800
Architect	Wallace K. Harrison

The Metropolitan Opera is a leading American opera company based at the opera house in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in the late 19th century, it has become one of the world’s largest and most influential opera institutions, known for high-profile premieres, international tours, and innovations in staging and broadcasting. The company has engaged major conductors, directors, designers, and singers from Europe and the Americas, sustaining a repertoire that ranges from baroque works to contemporary commissions.

History

The company was established during the cultural expansion of New York City alongside institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic. Early seasons featured stars affiliated with houses like La Scala, Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, and Paris Opera. The move to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1966 followed planning with figures including John D. Rockefeller III, Edward Durell Stone, and architect Wallace K. Harrison. Milestones include productions by directors associated with Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, and premieres linked to composers such as Samuel Barber, Philip Glass, John Corigliano, and Ned Rorem. The company’s history intersects with managers and impresarios like Rudolf Bing, James Levine, Peter Gelb, and General Managers who negotiated relationships with unions, philanthropists including Lila Acheson Wallace, David H. Koch, and cultural patrons connected to Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

Building and Facilities

The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts was designed by Wallace K. Harrison and opened with performances that featured artists from Metropolitan Opera House (1883) lineage. Its stage technology, orchestra pit, and acoustics have been renovated over decades with engineers from firms linked to projects at Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House. The complex contains rehearsal rooms used by ensembles such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and production facilities where scenery for collaborations with houses like Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, and Royal Opera House are built. Backstage infrastructure supports partnerships with costume houses associated with designers like Luca Ronconi, Franco Zeffirelli, Robert O’Hearn, and visual artists who have worked with museums including the Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art.

Productions and Repertoire

The repertoire has included canonical works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Georges Bizet, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Giacomo Puccini, and contemporary pieces by Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Lees, John Adams, Philip Glass, and Osvaldo Golijov. Notable stagings have been created by directors connected to Peter Brook, Franco Zeffirelli, Bob Wilson, David McVicar, Julie Taymor, and conductors from the lineages of Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Slatkin, James Levine, Valery Gergiev, and Gianandrea Noseda. The company commissions new works and collaborates on revivals seen at festivals like Salzburg Festival and venues such as Glyndebourne.

Artists and Administration

Soloists who have appeared include international stars affiliated with houses like Vienna State Opera and companies such as Teatro alla Scala: singers drawn from the careers of Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Birgit Nilsson, Montserrat Caballé, Renee Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, James Morris, Marilyn Horne, Samuel Ramey, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sesto Bruscantini, Fiorenza Cossotto, Sherrill Milnes, Rudolf Bing, and modern ensembles like Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Music directors and administrators have included Arturo Toscanini-era conductors, the long-tenure of James Levine, and leadership by Peter Gelb, with governance by boards that include trustees linked to institutions such as the New York Public Library and foundations including the Ford Foundation. Casting, stage direction, and design often draw on professionals who have worked at Royal Opera House, Opéra national de Paris, and La Scala.

Education and Community Engagement

The company operates programs partnering with cultural institutions such as the New York City Department of Education, Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, and community initiatives associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Outreach includes student matinees, young artist programs that link to conservatories like Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Peabody Institute, and apprenticeship schemes similar to those at Santa Fe Opera and Glimmerglass Festival. Educational content extends to lecture series collaborating with scholars from Columbia University, New York University, and Princeton University, and partnerships with cultural festivals such as Tanglewood Music Festival and Spoleto Festival USA.

Recordings, Broadcasts, and Media

The company has an extensive history of commercial recordings on labels associated with Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Records, RCA Victor, Sony Classical, and Warner Classics, featuring artists tied to La Scala, Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera House. Its pioneering radio and television broadcasts began with partnerships linked to networks such as NBC and continued with the long-running Live in HD cinema series presented by distributors that work with chains like AMC Theatres and broadcasters like PBS, Metropolitan Opera Radio and streaming arrangements akin to services from Apple Inc. and Amazon Prime Video. Archival broadcasts preserve performances with conductors from the lineages of Leopold Stokowski, Herbert von Karajan, and Leonard Bernstein and have been cited in releases collected by institutions such as the Library of Congress and archives connected to Smithsonian Institution.

Category:Opera companies in New York City