New York's Metropolitan Opera is a Crown Jewel in a City Known as a Center of Art and Culture

The United States boasts several major opera houses including the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, LA Opera in Los Angeles, Lyric Opera in Chicago, and the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, but The Metropolitan Opera in New York’s Lincoln Center is the largest, with a seating capacity of around 3,850 people. It has hosted the world’s finest singers, instrumentalists, conductors, directors, scenic and costume designers. Moreover, “the Met,” as it’s affectionately known, has a long and rich history as the pinnacle of operatic halls and has fostered the talent of countless rising stars.

Founded in 1883, the original opera house was built on Broadway and 39th Street for a group of wealthy businessmen. Management often changed in the early years and was reflected in the languages in which the operas were being performed. The famous tenor Enrico Caruso made his debut at the Met in 1903 and sang there for 18 years. Soprano Rosa Ponselle made her debut in 1918, as Leonora, playing opposite Caruso in Verdi’s La forza del destino. Arturo Toscanini, conductor, came to the opera company in 1908, and he and composer/conductor Gustav Mahler both conducted there in the same few seasons.

It was clear that the old opera house on 39th street didn’t have adequate stage facilities, so with the formation of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a new opera house, alongside a symphonic hall and secondary opera/ballet house, was built and opened in 1966. Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Das Rheingold, Sigfried, Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal were all performed for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, Corigliano and Hoffman’s The Ghosts of Versailles, Glass’s  The Voyage, and Harbison’s The Great Gatsby were all premiered at the Met.

My first experience going to the Met was with a group of my college classmates, all voice majors, to see Bellini’s I Puritani  in 1997 with soprano Ruth Ann Swenson. I was all of 19 years old and I don’t think I ever saw a fully-stage operatic production outside of school. The grandeur of the house itself, with the two Marc Chagall paintings, the chandeliers, the beautiful gold leaf on the hall’s ceiling, and of course the thousands of audience members coming from all over the country and world, was just so overwhelming. 

I have returned many times to see productions over the years, and I recently saw Kevin Put’s The Hours, adapted from the novel by Michael Cunningham. The score was beautifully played by the orchestra, as always, and the three leads, Renee Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, and Joyce DiDonato all sang with such emotion and clear dramatic intentions. I was quite moved… I bought my ticket for that performance last minute, on a Tuesday evening. The friendly woman at the box office offered to upgrade my ticket to the orchestra center, as there were a few prime seats still available. What a difference to see the stage and the performers up close!

I have had many friends over the years sing with the Metropolitan Opera whether in the chorus or as principal singers. It takes years and years to train your voice to be ready to sing at the largest opera house in the world, and as much time dedicated to foreign languages and movement. As a New York City resident, I am aware of how lucky I am to be in the center of so much arts and culture. The productions at the Met are the result of a multitude of people from all over the world who have contributed the necessary elements to bring these performances to life.