Metropolitan Opera House Opens October 22, 1883

1883 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opens with a performance of Gounod's opera Faust.

Image & text:wikipedia.com

As a young boy, I saw my first opera at the old Met in New York. It was Verdi's Ernani with Leontyne Price and Carlo Berganzi. I went with the "Wednesday Club " a music organization from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, my hometown. In a way that was perhaps a strange first opera. (Even stranger was exiting the subway station and seeing the police cover the body of somebody, who had just jumped from an upper story.)