Metropolitan Opera
America’s largest opera company, performing at the Lincoln Center opera house.
The Metropolitan Opera was founded in 1880 and gave its first performance in 1883 in an opera house on Broadway at 39th Street, built by a group of wealthy New Yorkers who could not obtain boxes at the older Academy of Music. For more than eight decades the company performed there, becoming one of the leading opera houses in the world. As part of the redevelopment of the Lincoln Square area in the 1950s and 1960s, the company agreed to move to the new Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
The present Metropolitan Opera House, designed by Wallace K. Harrison, opened in September 1966 with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra. It forms the centrepiece of the Lincoln Center plaza, facing the Revson Fountain, and its facade is defined by five tall arched windows. Inside, the auditorium seats about 3,800 people, making it one of the largest opera houses in the world, and is known for its red and gold decoration and the crystal chandeliers that rise towards the ceiling before each performance.
The company typically presents a season running from autumn to spring, combining new productions with revivals of the standard repertoire. Since 2006 its Live in HD series has transmitted selected performances to cinemas around the world, and its Saturday matinee radio broadcasts have been heard since 1931. Two large murals by Marc Chagall hang in the lobby, visible from the plaza. The 2026–27 season opens with a new production of Verdi's Macbeth conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Highlights
- Auditorium seating about 3,800, one of the largest opera houses in the world
- Crystal chandeliers that rise to the ceiling before performances begin
- Five arched windows on the facade facing the Lincoln Center plaza
- Two large Marc Chagall murals in the lobby, visible from outside
- Backstage tours of workshops, rehearsal rooms and the stage during the season
