Happy Birthday, Dear Met! Opera marks 50th at Lincoln Center

NEW YORK – A chorus of “Happy Birthday” is in order. The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center is 50.

It opened on Sept. 16, 1966, with a performance of Samuel Barber’s “Anthony and Cleopatra,” starring Justino Diaz and Leontyne Price.

An exhibition highlighting the 1966 inaugural season at Lincoln Center will open in the Founder’s Hall of the opera house on Sept. 26.

An anniversary gala is scheduled for May 7, 2017.

The anniversary will be celebrated throughout the 2016-2017 season. The opening night performance on Sept. 26 will feature the premiere of a new production of “Tristan und Isolde” (trih-STAN’ und ih-SOHLD’).

The Met was founded in 1883 on West 39th Street in Manhattan. It has engaged such great artists as Enrico Caruso and Arturo Toscanini (tahs-kuh-NEE’-nee).

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