Met Opera Celebrates 50th Anniversary at Lincoln Center

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Metropolitan Opera is getting ready to celebrate its golden anniversary.

The Met Opera at Lincoln Center, which opened Sept. 16, 1966, technically had its 50th birthday last week. But the facility will begin celebrating in earnest next week when it opens for its new season. The celebration will last until a celebrity-filled blowout on May 7, 2017. You can already buy tickets for the event on the Met's website. A who's who of opera will be at the 50th Anniversary Gala, including Renee Fleming and Placido Domingo.

The regular 2016-17 season will open on Sept. 26 with Mariusz Treliński’s "Tristan und Isolde." That will run through December, when a new romance will take over. On Dec. 31, "Roméo et Juliette" will take over for the new year.

Mary Zimmerman will bring Dvorák’s "Rusalka" to the stage on Feb. 2, 2017, and Strauss’s "Der Rosenkavalier," starring Fleming, will close out the season beginning on April 13.

The Met is also asking visitors to share their favorite memories from 50 years of performances on Twitter with the hashtag #Met50 or on its website.

Samuel Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra" kicked off the first event season of the Met at Lincoln Center back in 1966.

Photo Credit: Blehgoaway via Wikimedia Commons