Metropolitan Opera
, in
New York City
, leading U.S.
opera
company, distinguished for the outstanding singers it has attracted since its opening performance (
Gounod
’s
Faust
) on October 22, 1883. After its first season under Henry E. Abbey ended in a $600,000
deficit
, its management passed to the conductor
Leopold Damrosch
and later to his son, conductor and composer
Walter Damrosch
. In 1892, under Abbey, Walter Schoeffel, and Maurice Grau, the programming was a balance of German, French, and Italian. Grau, as manager during the Met’s “Golden Age” (1898?1903), drew many excellent artists from all over the world.
Heinrich Conried, manager from 1903 to 1908, arranged performances of
Richard Wagner
’s
Parsifal
(first performance outside
Bayreuth
, Germany) and
Richard Strauss
’s
Salome
, which so shocked its audience that it was withdrawn. During Giulio Gatti-Casazza’s 25 years as general manager, weekly
radio
broadcasts were inaugurated.
Under Edward Johnson (general manager 1934?50), American composers and artists were encouraged. His successor,
Rudolf Bing
, made
innovations
in staging and brought the first
African American
singers to the Met’s stage. He also arranged the Met’s first televised performance and organized its
touring company
. In 1966 the Met moved to
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
, New York City.
James Levine
made his conducting debut with the Met in 1971 and became music director in 1976, a position he held through 2016. The following year
Yannick Nezet-Seguin
became music director-designate. He assumed the role of director for the 2018?19 season, two years earlier than anticipated due to the suspension (and later firing) of director emeritus Levine, who was accused of sexual misconduct before and during his
tenure
at the Met.