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Affordable Opera Tickets There and Here

Janos Gereben on September 17, 2014
Some seats are less expensive than others
Some seats are less expensive than others

An age-old conondrum: Opera is the most expensive of all performing arts, but it's essential to allow (and encourage) audiences from all economic strata. The Met has updated and streamlined its $25 tickets program by moving it onto the web this season, rather than having patrons physically wait in line for a chance at seats.

The tickets, known as rush tickets, will be distributed by a lottery system. Buyers will be able to enter on the Met’s website the evening before a performance, and winners will get an email at noon on the day of the performance offering them the chance to buy two tickets for $25 each. The company said that there would be a minimum of 100 tickets available for each regular performance.

The tickets are among the great bargains in New York: the average ticket price at the Met this coming season will be $160.

San Francisco Opera, where orchestra and box seats now often go beyond $300, has a good mix of programs to make attendance affordable, especially for students, seniors, and military with ID:

  • First and foremost, there are the $10 standing-room tickets for anybody, good on the main floor and on the top of the second balcony, where acoustics are the best. Yes, it means standing, and don't I know what it entails, but let's hope arthritis is not yet universal.
  • Just as at the Met, SFO has its rush tickets, in larger numbers than the New York company.
  • The Opera Guild's educational programs include backstage tours and special performances for students.
  • Bravo Tix: with a $60 annual membership to Bravo!Club, you can buy $52 orchestra tickets and $37 dress circle tickets to many performances.