Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera was founded in 1883 by New York families who could not get boxes at the old Academy of Music, and it opened that year in a purpose-built house at Broadway and 39th Street. In 1966 the company moved to Lincoln Center, into a travertine-clad building by Wallace K. Harrison with around 3,700 seats, among the largest opera houses in the world. It opened on 16 September 1966 with the premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra; the beloved old house was demolished the following year.

Mozart marked the new address early. Marc Chagall, whose two vast murals face the plaza through the lobby glass, designed the sets and costumes for a new Die Zauberflöte in the company's first Lincoln Center season. In 2004 Julie Taymor's production brought flying puppets and glowing imagery to the opera, and its shortened English-language version, The Magic Flute, has since become a holiday tradition for families.

On stage here

Performance dates

Data: open sources (opera houses, ticketing platforms, Wikidata). Part of the worldwide Die Zauberflöte map.