NYC is giving away 70,000 Met Opera tickets to New Yorkers
Credit: Robert Brands on Flickr
New York City is giving away 70,000 tickets to the Metropolitan Opera, making performances more accessible to those who might not otherwise be able to afford them. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday announced “Opera for All,” a partnership with the Met that will release 10,000 free tickets each month during the 2026-27 season. New Yorkers who have never purchased a Met Opera ticket can enter the monthly ticket lotteries through the Met’s app or the city’s website.
The 70,000 tickets account for roughly 10 percent of all tickets available for the season and will include seats in every section of the house, excluding standing room. The city will introduce other ways for New Yorkers to access tickets in the coming months.
Productions slated for the Met this season include “Macbeth,” “Lincoln in the Bardo,” and “La Bohème.” The opera house plans to continue “Opera for All” in future seasons.
The partnership builds on the Mamdani administration’s broader efforts to expand access to cultural and entertainment experiences that may be out of reach for some New Yorkers. These efforts include free tickets to major sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup this summer, as well as 1,000 discounted tickets to the U.S. Open.
Earlier this summer, the mayor also announced a partnership with the Theater Development Fund to provide thousands of free and low-cost Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets to high school students, as well as free memberships to more than 20 cultural institutions across the five boroughs.
In a video announcing the partnership, Mamdani also cited Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as an inspiration, pointing to the former mayor’s establishment of New York City Center in 1943, which he called “The People’s Opera” and where tickets cost between 75 cents and $2.
“Opera is one of the greatest art forms we have, and there is no better place to experience it than the Metropolitan Opera House,” Mamdani said. “But art should not be reserved for those who can afford it.”
“Every New Yorker should have the opportunity to sit in these seats, hear these voices and experience this stage, no matter what’s in their bank account,” he added. “From the rise of opera buffa in the 18th century to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s “people’s opera” in the 1940s, this art form was meant to be seen by everyone.”
The city is helping distribute tickets this season, promoting the lottery through the Department of Social Services, the New York City Housing Authority, public schools, the city’s three public library systems, CUNY, the Department for the Aging, and the Situation Project.
To qualify for a ticket, you must be an NYC resident with a valid ID, have not previously purchased a ticket to the Met, and have the Met Opera app downloaded on your phone. The app will verify residency and ticket history.
“Throughout its storied history, the Met has culturally enriched New York,” Peter Gelb, general manager of the Met, said. “With this new initiative, we hope to further demonstrate that the Met is a vital part of life in the city.”
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