Metropolitan Opera House, Opera house at Lincoln Center, Upper West Side, New York City, United States.
The Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house at Lincoln Center in the Upper West Side neighborhood of New York City. The white travertine marble structure shows five concrete arches with bronze-framed glass windows and holds 3,850 seats spread across multiple tiers.
The Metropolitan Opera was founded in April 1880 and opened its first house at 1411 Broadway on October 22, 1883, with a performance of Faust. That building burned on August 27, 1892, and was rebuilt; its interior was redone in 1903. The company moved to Lincoln Center in 1966, opening on September 16 with Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Leontyne Price.
Performances follow European opera traditions with continuous acts and fixed intermissions, while audiences often wear formal dress. Many regular attendees occupy the same seats for years and consider their visits a steady part of their social lives.
The house opens roughly one hour before curtain time and allows visitors to walk through the public areas and lobby. The box office sells remaining available tickets on the day of performance at reduced rates.
The two Chagall murals, "The Triumph of Music" and "The Sources of Music," hang in the multi-story lobby and are visible from the outside plaza through the glass facade. The lobby's cantilevered concrete and terrazzo stairway connects the main level with lower lounges and upper floors. The eleven crystal chandeliers in the auditorium are raised to the ceiling before each performance.
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