Metropolitan Opera

Corporate brand

A New York-based nonprofit opera company known for large-scale repertory productions, artist development, commissions of new works, and global broadcast and streaming distribution.

Last updated October 14, 2026

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Overview

The Metropolitan Opera, commonly called the Met, is a nonprofit American opera company headquartered at Lincoln Center in New York City. Founded in 1883, it is one of the most prominent opera institutions in the world and one of the largest cultural organizations in the United States. The company presents a seasonal repertory of major works by composers including Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Wagner, Donizetti, Rossini, Strauss, Bizet, Janáček, and contemporary American and international composers. Its artistic identity combines a very large orchestra and chorus, internationally recruited principal singers, elaborate theatrical productions, a substantial technical operation, and a tradition of presenting operas at a scale associated with grand opera. The company was established by New York financiers and civic leaders who wanted an opera house independent of the Academy of Music, whose existing ownership structure limited access for the city’s newer wealthy families. The original Metropolitan Opera House opened on Broadway and 39th Street in 1883. After decades in that building, the company moved to the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, which opened on September 16, 1966, with the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra starring Leontyne Price. The Lincoln Center house remains the company’s principal performance venue and is recognized for its large auditorium, stage machinery, acoustics, and production facilities. Live performance remains the Met’s central activity, but the organization has repeatedly used communications technology to extend its reach. A 1910 experiment transmitted performances from the old opera house, and the company began its continuous Saturday matinee radio series in 1931. The radio broadcasts became one of the longest-running classical-music broadcast traditions in the United States and helped make the Met familiar to listeners who could not travel to New York. Later television productions, recordings, archival releases, and digital services expanded the institution’s audience beyond the opera house. Under General Manager Peter Gelb, appointed in 2006, the Met placed particular emphasis on contemporary productions, cinema distribution, digital access, and audience development. The Met: Live in HD series began in December 2006, transmitting selected performances by satellite to cinemas and other venues around the world. The program turned individual performances into international cultural events and became a major part of the company’s public identity. Met Opera on Demand subsequently assembled a substantial catalog of filmed performances, television broadcasts, and radio recordings for subscription streaming. During the COVID-19 closure, free nightly archival streams and paid recital programs provided a digital substitute for live performance and helped the company maintain contact with audiences. The Met’s artistic scope has broadened through commissions and productions of contemporary opera. The company revived a more sustained commissioning program in the 1990s, presenting works such as The Ghosts of Versailles and Philip Glass’s The Voyage. More recent projects have included Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel, Nico Muhly’s Marnie, Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice, Brett Dean’s Hamlet, Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded, and Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. The 2021 premiere of Fire Shut Up in My Bones was historically notable as the first opera by a Black composer performed by the Met. The organization is also an important platform for developing singers, conductors, directors, composers, and designers. Its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and National Council Auditions support emerging operatic talent, while its educational and access programs introduce opera to students and audiences who may not regularly attend performances. The company’s present strategy balances canonical repertory, new productions, audience accessibility, international media distribution, and financial discipline. It continues to operate as a nonprofit institution dependent on ticket income, media revenue, philanthropy, endowment resources, and other contributed support rather than as a publicly traded company.

History

The Metropolitan Opera was founded in New York in 1883 by a group of wealthy businessmen and civic leaders who wanted to establish a new opera house outside the control of the Academy of Music. The original Metropolitan Opera House was built on Broadway between 39th and 40th Streets and opened during the 1883–84 season. The inaugural repertory included works by Verdi, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Wagner, and other European composers. The company soon became a central institution in New York’s musical life, attracting leading singers and conductors from Europe and North America. During its early decades, the Met developed a repertory model that combined Italian, German, French, and later English-language opera. For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, works were frequently performed in translation, reflecting the company’s effort to reach a broad American audience. The organization’s scale and financial demands were considerable. It relied on wealthy patrons, boxholders, ticket sales, and later corporate and public-facing support campaigns to sustain a large resident company, orchestra, chorus, technical staff, and repertory operation. The Met was an early adopter of mass media. In January 1910, Lee de Forest transmitted excerpts and performances from the opera house through experimental radio technology. On December 25, 1931, the company launched its regular Saturday matinee radio series with Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. The broadcasts, sponsored for many years by Texaco, made the Met accessible to listeners throughout the United States and eventually to international audiences. Radio became both a cultural service and an important fundraising and audience-development instrument. During periods of financial pressure, public appeals through the broadcasts helped mobilize supporters. In 1940, the Metropolitan Opera Association acquired the original opera house from the boxholders who had built and leased it. This gave the organization greater control over its physical home but also left it responsible for substantial building and operating costs. By the middle of the twentieth century, the limitations of the old house—including its stage, rehearsal spaces, and technical infrastructure—made a new facility increasingly necessary. The Met became one of the principal resident organizations planned for Lincoln Center, the major performing-arts complex being developed on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center opened on September 16, 1966. Its inaugural performance was the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra, commissioned for the opening and conducted by Thomas Schippers, with Leontyne Price and Justino Díaz among the principal performers. The move provided the company with a much larger and more technologically advanced stage, improved production facilities, and a modern auditorium. It also increased the financial burden of maintaining year-round operations and a large permanent workforce. The second half of the twentieth century was shaped artistically by several long-serving leaders. General Manager Rudolf Bing oversaw the company from 1950 to 1972, a period associated with international star casting, major new productions, and the consolidation of the Met’s postwar reputation. Sir John Dexter and other artistic figures influenced staging and repertory, while conductors such as George Solti and Leonard Bernstein expanded the company’s musical profile. James Levine made his Met debut in 1971 and became principal conductor, then music director in 1976. His tenure, which lasted until 2016, was central to the development of the Met Orchestra and Chorus, the growth of the recording program, and the expansion of the repertory. The company resumed a more sustained commitment to new American opera in the 1990s under General Manager Joseph Volpe and Music Director James Levine. The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano, which premiered in 1991, was the Met’s first commission presented after a long hiatus from creating new works. Philip Glass’s The Voyage followed in 1992. Later initiatives included productions and commissions by composers such as John Adams, Thomas Adès, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Matthew Aucoin, Jake Heggie, Anthony Davis, Terence Blanchard, Jeanine Tesori, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Peter Gelb became the company’s 16th general manager in August 2006. His administration placed significant emphasis on new productions, contemporary opera, cinema distribution, digital media, and efforts to reach younger and more diverse audiences. In December 2006, the Met launched The Met: Live in HD, transmitting performances by satellite to cinemas and other venues. The initiative transformed the economics and visibility of opera presentation by allowing a single performance to reach audiences far beyond New York. The company also developed Met Opera on Demand, a subscription archive of filmed performances, classic television broadcasts, and radio recordings. The Met’s relationship with James Levine ended in 2018. After allegations of sexual abuse and harassment became public in 2017, the company commissioned an investigation by outside counsel. In March 2018, it announced that the investigation had found credible evidence of abusive and harassing conduct and terminated Levine’s relationship with the organization. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who had been named music director designate, assumed the position earlier than originally planned and became the company’s principal artistic leader. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Met to cancel the remainder of its 2019–20 season beginning March 12, 2020, and then cancel the entire 2020–21 season. The company used free nightly streams, digital recitals, fundraising appeals, and other online programming during the closure. The shutdown also produced severe financial and labor pressures, requiring negotiations with the company’s unions and a restructuring of operating plans. The Met returned to staged performance in September 2021, opening the season with Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The production marked the first opera by a Black composer performed by the company and symbolized a broader effort to widen the range of stories, composers, languages, and artistic collaborators represented in the repertory. In the 2020s, the Met continued to combine canonical repertory with new works and expanded access initiatives. A New Works Initiative supported by a $10 million gift from the Neubauer Family Foundation was announced in 2023. The initiative included productions of Dead Man Walking, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Florencia en el Amazonas, El Niño, Grounded, Ainadamar, Moby-Dick, and other contemporary works. The company also introduced Live at Home streaming for selected simulcasts, allowing audiences to watch performances without traveling to a participating cinema. By the announced 2026–27 season, the Met was preparing to mark 60 years at Lincoln Center and 20 years of Live in HD while maintaining its core repertory, commissioning activity, educational programs, and international media reach.

2026
2026–27 season announced
[13]The Metropolitan Opera’s 2026–27 Seasonmetopera.org
The announced season includes five new productions, 12 repertory productions, a 60th-anniversary Lincoln Center gala, and the 20th anniversary of Live in HD.
2023
New Works Initiative receives major support
[11]New Works Initiativemetopera.org
A $10 million gift supported the company’s effort to present more new operas over a five-year period.
2022
Live at Home launches
[20]Live at Home launchesmetopera.org
The Met introduced home streaming for selected Live in HD simulcasts, extending its digital distribution beyond cinemas.
2021
Fire Shut Up in My Bones opens the reopening season
[19]Fire Shut Up in My Bones opens the reopening seasonmetopera.org
Terence Blanchard’s opera opened the 2021–22 season and became the first opera by a Black composer performed by the Met.
2020
COVID-19 closure and season cancellation
[8]Metropolitan Opera Cancels Its 2020–21 Seasonmetopera.org
The Met canceled the remainder of the 2019–20 season and then the entire 2020–21 season because of the pandemic.
2018
Yannick Nézet-Séguin becomes music director
[2]Who We Aremetopera.org
Nézet-Séguin succeeded James Levine as music director after becoming music director designate in 2016.
2018
Met terminates relationship with James Levine
[10]Statement Regarding James Levinemetopera.org
Following an outside investigation, the company ended Levine’s relationship with the Met over findings of credible abusive and harassing conduct.
2006
The Met: Live in HD launches
[17]Metropolitan Opera Live in HDen.wikipedia.org
The company began transmitting selected live performances to cinemas and other venues by satellite.
2006
Peter Gelb becomes general manager
[3]Peter Gelb, General Managermetopera.org
Gelb became the company’s 16th general manager and began a modernization strategy focused on new work, digital media, and broader audience access.
1991
The Ghosts of Versailles premieres
[15]American Opera at the Met: Section 6metopera.org
John Corigliano’s opera became the first Metropolitan Opera commission presented after a quarter-century hiatus from creating new works.
1976
James Levine becomes music director
[1]Our Storymetopera.org
Levine began a long tenure that shaped the Met Orchestra, Chorus, recording activity, and repertory through 2016.
1966
Move to Lincoln Center
[5]The New Metmetopera.org
The new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center opened on September 16 with the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra.
1940
Metropolitan Opera Association acquires the original opera house
[6]Technology in Troubled Timesmetopera.org
The association purchased the original house from the boxholders who had constructed and leased it, strengthening the company’s control over its premises.
1931
Saturday matinee radio broadcasts begin
[4]Spirit of Radiometopera.org
The Met launched its regular radio series on Christmas Day with Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel.
1910
Experimental radio transmission
[4]Spirit of Radiometopera.org
Lee de Forest transmitted Met performances using experimental radio technology, giving audiences outside the building access to the company’s music for the first time.
1883
Metropolitan Opera founded
[1]Our Storymetopera.org
The Metropolitan Opera was established in New York by a group of wealthy businessmen and civic leaders seeking an independent opera house.
1883
First opera house opens on Broadway
[1]Our Storymetopera.org
The original Metropolitan Opera House opened on Broadway and 39th Street for the company’s inaugural season.

Products and positioning

A prestigious, large-scale American opera institution combining live repertory performance, artistic innovation, international artist rosters, new-work commissioning, artist development, and worldwide media distribution.

Live opera · 1883
Metropolitan Opera season
The company’s principal offering is its annual New York season at Lincoln Center. It combines a repertory of frequently revived canonical works with new productions, company premieres, concerts, galas, and occasional contemporary commissions. Performances use the full Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus, stage-management operation, production workshops, and internationally recruited casts. The season is the core artistic and revenue-generating activity of the Metropolitan Opera Association.
Cinema and satellite transmission · 2006
The Met: Live in HD
The Met: Live in HD is a series of selected performances transmitted live from New York to cinemas and other cultural venues. It uses multiple cameras, intermission interviews, backstage features, and subtitles to present opera as a large-scale cinema event. The program expanded the Met’s reach beyond its New York auditorium and made international distribution an integral part of the company’s public-facing identity.
Digital streaming archive · 2015
Met Opera on Demand
Met Opera on Demand is the company’s subscription streaming catalog. It brings together recordings from Live in HD, earlier television broadcasts, and radio performances dating back to the mid-twentieth century. The service allows subscribers to access complete operas and related performance material on connected devices, turning the Met’s archive into an ongoing digital product rather than a collection available only through occasional broadcasts or physical media.
Radio broadcasting · 1931
Metropolitan Opera Radio
The Met’s radio service grew out of the Saturday matinee broadcasts begun in 1931. It presents live or recorded performances with commentary and has historically distributed performances through a network of radio stations in the United States and internationally. Radio remains important for listeners who cannot attend in person and represents one of the longest-running continuous classical-music broadcast traditions in American media.
Artist development · 1980
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program
The Lindemann program develops promising young singers through coaching, language study, staging experience, and performance opportunities connected to the Met. It functions as an internal talent pipeline while also preparing artists for careers across the international opera system. Alumni and participants have included singers who later became principal artists at the Met and other major opera houses.
Talent competition and education · 1954
National Council Auditions
The National Council Auditions identify and support emerging North American opera singers. Regional auditions lead to later rounds and awards, giving young artists financial assistance, professional exposure, and access to the Met’s artistic network. The program is part of the company’s broader role in developing the next generation of performers rather than simply presenting established international stars.
Home streaming · 2022
Live at Home
Live at Home extends selected Live in HD transmissions to personal devices. It was introduced as a way for audiences without convenient access to participating cinemas to purchase and watch certain simulcasts from home. The offering reflects the Met’s broader shift toward a mixed distribution model combining the opera house, cinemas, radio, subscription streaming, and direct-to-consumer digital access.

Controversies

2018
Termination of James Levine relationship
The Met announced that its investigation had found credible evidence of sexually abusive and harassing conduct by Levine and ended his relationship with the company. The organization stated that its investigation found no substantiated evidence of a management or board cover-up, a conclusion that remained part of the public controversy.
Source
2017
Sexual-abuse allegations involving James Levine
The Met suspended James Levine and commissioned an outside investigation after allegations that he had sexually abused and harassed younger artists. The case raised questions about institutional knowledge, oversight, and the protection of artists working under a powerful artistic leader.
Source
2014
Controversy over The Death of Klinghoffer
The Met’s production of John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer generated protests and public criticism from organizations and commentators who argued that the opera’s depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was antisemitic. Supporters defended the work as a complex dramatic treatment of political violence and competing historical perspectives.
Source

2023New Works Initiative
United States · International
Supported by a $10 million Neubauer Family Foundation gift, the initiative sought to increase the number of new operas presented by the Met over a five-year period.
Outcome. The initiative supported a sequence of contemporary productions, including Dead Man Walking, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Florencia en el Amazonas, El Niño, Grounded, and other works.
Source
2022Live at Home
International
The Met added a home-viewing option for selected live simulcasts, targeting audiences that could not reach participating cinemas or preferred to watch on personal devices.
Outcome. The offering expanded the company’s distribution model from the opera house and cinema network to direct digital access.
Source
2021Reopening through contemporary opera
United States · International
The Met reopened after its pandemic shutdown with Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, placing a contemporary American work and a Black composer at the center of the return to live performance.
Outcome. The production became a symbolic and artistic milestone in the company’s effort to diversify its repertory and rebuild its public presence after the closure.
Source
2020Nightly Met Opera Streams
International
During the COVID-19 closure, the company offered free nightly streams of archival performances. The initiative maintained audience engagement while the opera house was unable to present live performances.
Outcome. The streams became a major part of the Met’s pandemic communications and digital outreach, although they did not replace the company’s live season economically or artistically.
Source
2015Met Opera on Demand
International
The Met organized its performance archive into a subscription streaming service containing Live in HD videos, older television broadcasts, and radio recordings. The campaign converted archival access into an ongoing digital relationship with audiences.
Outcome. The service broadened access to the company’s historical repertory and supported the Met’s identity as both a live institution and a digital media provider.
Source
2006The Met: Live in HD
United States · Canada · United Kingdom · France · Germany · Italy · Japan · Australia
The Met created a recurring cinema-transmission series that distributed selected live performances by satellite. The campaign positioned opera as a shared cinema experience and made the company’s New York productions visible to audiences who could not attend in person.
Outcome. The series became one of the Met’s most recognizable public initiatives and a foundation for later streaming and home-distribution products.
Source

Brand decisions

2024
Reduce the number of productions and emphasize repertory economicsStrategy
Background
The Met faced financial pressure and uneven post-pandemic ticket demand, prompting a review of the size and composition of its season.
Action taken
Management announced an 18-production season, increased use of double casting for selected Verdi and Puccini revivals, and changes intended to improve the financial performance of live and broadcast presentations.
Aftermath
The decision reflected a continuing balance between artistic ambition, contemporary opera, familiar repertory, production costs, and the economics of Live in HD.
Source
2023
Expand commissioning through the New Works InitiativeStrategy
Background
The Met sought to strengthen its contemporary repertory while responding to calls for broader representation of composers, languages, histories, and artistic viewpoints.
Action taken
The company announced a multiyear New Works Initiative backed by a $10 million gift from the Neubauer Family Foundation.
Aftermath
The initiative supported a cluster of new and recent operas, including Dead Man Walking, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Florencia en el Amazonas, El Niño, Grounded, and later projects.
Restricted gift supporting new works. 10 million USD (Announced September 2023; intended for the following five seasons)
Source
2022
Launch Live at HomeProduct launch
Background
The cinema-transmission model reached audiences unevenly, and some viewers lacked access to participating theaters or preferred home viewing.
Action taken
The Met introduced a streaming platform for selected live simulcasts, with subtitles and device-based access.
Aftermath
The initiative added a direct-to-consumer layer to the company’s distribution system and complemented Met Opera on Demand.
Source
2021
Reopen with Fire Shut Up in My BonesStrategy
Background
After an eighteen-month interruption, the Met needed a production that could signal a return to live performance while reflecting a broader artistic and social remit.
Action taken
The company opened the 2021–22 season with Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, directed by James Robinson and based on Charles M. Blow’s memoir.
Aftermath
The production became the first opera by a Black composer performed by the Met and was treated as a landmark in the company’s reopening and diversification efforts.
Source
2020
Cancel the 2020–21 season during the COVID-19 pandemicStrategy
Background
Opera requires large numbers of performers, backstage employees, technicians, and audience members to work in close proximity. Public-health restrictions made a normal season impractical.
Action taken
The Met canceled the entire 2020–21 season and shifted emphasis toward digital programs, fundraising, cost control, and planning for a later reopening.
Aftermath
The cancellation caused a prolonged shutdown, major labor and financial pressure, and a restructuring of the company’s timetable. The Met reopened in September 2021.
Operating revenue. 263 million USD → 129 million USD (Fiscal year 2020 compared with fiscal year 2021)
Source
2018
End relationship with James Levine and advance Yannick Nézet-Séguinleadership_change
Background
The decision followed an outside investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and harassment involving Levine, who had been a central musical figure at the company for decades.
Action taken
The Met terminated Levine’s relationship with the organization and moved Yannick Nézet-Séguin into the music director role after his appointment had initially been planned for a later date.
Aftermath
The change ended Levine’s formal association with the Met and placed Nézet-Séguin at the center of the company’s post-Levine artistic direction.
Source
2006
Launch The Met: Live in HDProduct launch
Background
The company sought to expand the audience for its expensive New York productions and use emerging digital-cinema infrastructure to distribute performances beyond the opera house.
Action taken
The Met partnered with cinema-distribution infrastructure to transmit selected live performances by satellite to venues in North America, Europe, Japan, and other markets.
Aftermath
The series became a defining part of the Met’s brand and established a platform for later on-demand and home-streaming initiatives.
Source

Recent events

2026
The Metropolitan Opera announces its 2026–27 season[13]The Metropolitan Opera’s 2026–27 Seasonmetopera.org
Product launch · Campaign · Other
The announced season includes five new productions, 12 repertory productions, a 60th-anniversary Lincoln Center gala, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, and the 20th anniversary of The Met: Live in HD.
2025
The Metropolitan Opera announces its 2025–26 season[12]The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025–26 Seasonmetopera.org
Product launch · Product generation
The season was announced with six new productions, 12 revivals, 197 performances, and projects including Mason Bates’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.
2023
Metropolitan Opera launches a major New Works Initiative[11]New Works Initiativemetopera.org
Campaign · Product launch
A $10 million gift from the Neubauer Family Foundation was announced to support a multiyear effort to bring more new operas to the Met stage, including Dead Man Walking, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Florencia en el Amazonas, and El Niño.
2022
The Met announces Live at Home streaming[20]Live at Home launchesmetopera.org
Product launch · strategy
The company introduced a paid home-streaming option for selected Live in HD simulcasts, extending the cinema-transmission model to audiences watching from personal devices.
2021
The Met and its orchestra reach an agreement for reopening[9]The Met and Its Orchestra Reach Agreementmetopera.org
strategy · Other
The orchestra ratified a new collective bargaining agreement, removing a major operational obstacle to the company’s return after the pandemic shutdown.
2021
Fire Shut Up in My Bones becomes the first opera by a Black composer performed by the Met[19]Fire Shut Up in My Bones opens the reopening seasonmetopera.org
Product launch · Campaign
Terence Blanchard’s opera opened the 2021–22 season and became a major milestone in the company’s efforts to expand its contemporary and historically underrepresented repertoire.
2020
The Metropolitan Opera cancels its 2020–21 season[8]Metropolitan Opera Cancels Its 2020–21 Seasonmetopera.org
Other · strategy
The company canceled the full 2020–21 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic while announcing plans for a 2021–22 reopening centered on new productions and digital initiatives.
2006
The Met introduces Live in HD cinema transmissions[17]Metropolitan Opera Live in HDen.wikipedia.org
Product launch · Campaign
The company launched a satellite-transmission series to bring selected live performances to cinemas and other venues, beginning with an English-language production of The Magic Flute.

Sources25 sources

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