The Met, Metropolitan Opera House was founded in April 1880 and is considered to be the largest opera house in the world.
The building was designed by the architect J. Cleaveland Cady, who had chosen, for the exterior, a typically industrial aspect characterized by the yellow bricks of the facades; this characteristic gave the theater the nickname of The Yellow Brick Brewery, that is the yellow brick factory.
The theater was completely destroyed by fire nine years later, on August 27, 1892; this cost the cancellation of the theater season 1892-1893. The construction of the new theater, in the same place as the previous one, was entrusted to the Carrère and Hastings company, formed by the architects John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings. The new theater was opened in 1903 and, in 1906, the curtain characterized by its gold color was installed.
In 1940 the hall underwent some changes, which brought it up to the capacity of 3,625 people seated and 244 standing.
Decided to build a new theater in the Lincoln Center area, the old theater was closed with a gala on April 16, 1966. The original building, having not obtained the status of a monument, was demolished in 1967.
The new Metropolitan Opera House was opened to the public for the first time on the evening of 11 April 1966, with the staging of Giacomo Puccini's La fanciulla del West: Puccini is also the most represented opera in the history of the Metropolitan, La Bohème. The official inauguration took place on September 16, with the world premiere of Antonio and Cleopatra by Samuel Barber directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
Since then, the Metropolitan Opera Company and the ballet company American Ballet Theater have alternated on stage.
The Met (as it is also called) is also known worldwide for its live radio broadcasts. The radio season generally runs from December to May. The first broadcast, on December 25, 1931, was Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel.
From 1973 until March 2018, the famous American conductor James Levine was its permanent conductor.
Met, Metropolitan Opera House
Address: 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, Stati Uniti
Phone: +1 212-362-6000
Site:
https://www.metopera.org/Location inserted by
Luigi de Marchi