# Any Metropolitan Opera veterans here?



## Jim Austin (Apr 29, 2016)

I moved to NY a few months ago, and I'm planning to get a Met subscription for next season. I'm not going to pay Parterre Center Premium prices, but I want good seats and I'm willing to put down some money. I'm especially excited to see Tristan, Jenufa, Salome, Rusalka, and La Boheme is always fun. OK, so where should I sit? 

I've had only a handful of Met experiences, and most of them have been bad, mainly because of upper-level railings. (I don't mean the music was bad; I mean the seats were bad, and that affected the experience in a seriously negative way.) Once (dress circle?) I was directly behind a post and had to lean to the side to see. (The seat was not sold as obstructed view.) Another time I was on the second row, grand tier or dress circle, and had to lean forward so that the railing wasn't in my face. Great for the first act, but at intermission the guy behind me complained that I was obstructing his view. (I guess he, too, was trying to see between the railings.)

Recommendations appreciated.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Like you I was an occasional Met visitor until I moved here a few years ago and now am fortunate to get there fairly often. Aside from Parterre Center, we've sat just about everywhere. Personally I like to be close to the action, and I find Orchestra Balance or Orchestra Front Side are the best value. From the side, you may miss some action in the far corners of the stage, but you also get the opportunity for an unofficial 'upgrade' if there seats toward the center available when the house lights go down. We've also had perfectly fine experiences in the rear of the Grand Tier or Dress Circle. Even the Family Circle is fine in a pinch - for as high as they are, the sight lines and sound are very good. 

Yes, those railings, narrow as they may be, can be annoying in the front rows, but I can't imagine anywhere obstructed by a post in the house. We've tried some of those attractively priced partial view seats in the Grand Tier and Balcony level boxes, but to my mind the are not a good value because of the distance from the stage and the amount of stage that is cut off from view.


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## Jim Austin (Apr 29, 2016)

Thanks Cavaradossi. The post was on a front row, too, I think at the end of the center section, but it has been quite a few years since that experience. I said post, but really it was a vertical section of the railing. 

How's the sound from Front Side? 

Cheers


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

I've only sat Front Side a couple times but I found the sound to be fantastic. I found the voices a little more clear (against the orchestra) when sitting that close.

I spent most of my time in Orchestra Balance and Orchestra Rear; I greatly prefer those seats to Family Circle, but it is important to pay attention to where the overhang is. Orchestra Rear is I believe entirely under the Parterre; it seems like at least some of Orchestra Balance is.


Good luck!


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Jim Austin, my very first visit to the Met was last month, for _L'elisir d'amore_. For economy's sake, we sat in the Family Circle, near the end of the row on the right side. At that height the opera glasses were absolutely necessary, but the sound was perfectly clear. Personally, I've always liked sitting upstairs in theaters of any kind, because of the acoustics and certainly because tickets are cheaper for upstairs seats. On the other hand, it sounds like you want something closer to the stage than Family Circle.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Good luck, Jim. The Met's a bucket item, now that Levine's outta there. I'm thankful for their PBS and Saturday movie theater options. But mostly, I'm thankful for my recent addition of a 65" UHD TV, which is opening up the opera world in good fashion. :tiphat:


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Hi Jim:
There is little question that the acoustics from upstairs are much better than the Orchestra, but then you cannot see the singers up close.
So we have opted to give up the right-in-your-face sound for the seats that are on sides of the orchestra starting at 20,22,24, etc. on the right side and 21,23,25 etc. on the left. Rows D to P are decent seats. Often we have been able to grab better seats around us depending on the opera.
Good luck and happy listening. There's nothing quite as addicting as the Metropolitan Opera.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

The cinema is as close as I get on the moment to see performances from the Met.
Still have my fist even ticket from 1996 though


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Jim Austin said:


> Thanks Cavaradossi. The post was on a front row, too, I think at the end of the center section, but it has been quite a few years since that experience. I said post, but really it was a vertical section of the railing.
> 
> How's the sound from Front Side?
> 
> Cheers


As long as you are out from the overhang on the sides, I think the sound is fine. As you might expect, the orchestra may sound a little unbalanced or unblended relative to higher up, but because of the pit it's not as bad as you'd expect compared to say an concert orchestral performance on stage. Voices come in loud and clear, and personally I prefer that immediacy. A few weeks ago we had the privilege of seeing _Elektra_ from row E. Our assigned seats were on the aisle, but we were able to scooch a few seats toward the center when the house lights went down. Talk about immediacy!


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

I am _literally_ a Metropolitan Opera veteran 

My Met experience was in 1960, when I saw the last act of Die Walkure at the old house. I was in the army then, stationed at Fort Dix, NJ for advanced training, and often came to NYC on weekends. Because of a 5 1/2 day duty week, I couldn't get to the Met until later in the day, so I arrived during the 2nd act intermission. My uniform got me in, and I got to experience Act III from a not bad seat. The cast included Birgit Nilsson during her debut Met season as Brunhilde, Jon Vickers as Siegmund and Jerome Hines as Wotan, a dream cast. It was my first time at a live opera performance.

A couple of months earlier, I had listened to the Met Saturday radio broadcast of Tristan and Isolde with Nilsson in her Met debut role, along with six other guys in my company at Fort Knox, where I was completing basic training. One of them, our trainee platoon leader, had been an opera singer in civilian life who basically got the position by virtue of his commanding baritone voice. 
(It was a draft army then, all kinds of people in it. Once I found a copy of Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata" in an army truck glove compartment.)

Later, I did get to see Nilsson in a full Met touring company production of Turandot in Cleveland's Municipal Auditorium, and decades after that was a super, decked out as a boyar, in an Opera Columbus production with Jerome Hines as Boris Godunov. If I remember correctly, Eric Owens was in it as well, doing Mityukha. One of our friends had been a member of the chorus. She got me on board as one of the best birthday gifts of my life.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

znapschatz said:


> I am _literally_ a Metropolitan Opera veteran
> 
> My Met experience was in 1960, when I saw the last act of Die Walkure at the old house. I was in the army then, stationed at Fort Dix, NJ for advanced training, and often came to NYC on weekends. Because of a 5 1/2 day duty week, I couldn't get to the Met until later in the day, so I arrived during the 2nd act intermission. My uniform got me in, and I got to experience Act III from a not bad seat. The cast included Birgit Nilsson during her debut Met season as Brunhilde, Jon Vickers as Siegmund and Jerome Hines as Wotan, a dream cast. It was my first time at a live opera performance.
> 
> ...


Some people have all the luck


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Pugg said:


> Some people have all the luck


Well, seriously, much more than to what I should have been entitled. But that's a subject for another venue


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## Der Fliegende Amerikaner (Feb 26, 2011)

Please see this article where the NY Times reviewer attended the same opera 9 times each time sitting in different sections:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/a...-the-mets-norma-from-9-perspectives.html?_r=0

I started this thread 9 years ago on a travel forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-york-city/709782-met-opera-side-boxes.html

Since then I've attended over 20 performances at the Met and I've sat in every section except for Center Parterre.

My favorite sections are the front rows of the Grand Tier or Dress Circle. The front Grand Tier is nice for the view and the sound. The front Dress Circle I think offers even better sound and a decent view so therefore is often a better value.

Some people say that the Balcony offers the best sound. It's a little too high up for my taste.

I once sat in the Family Circle for La Traviata (Zeffirelli production). Maybe it was me but I had trouble hearing Angela Gheorghiu.

I usually avoid the Orchestra like the plague but since I wanted to take my 2 year old daughter to her first Met performance 5 months ago, I got front row Orchestra tickets for the family presentation of The Barber of Seville. I was quite pleased with the sound and of course the view (BTW, Isabel Leonard is very attractive).

I'll also avoid the side boxes. I once sat in the Side Parterre for L'Elisir with Anna Netrebko/Matthew Polenzani/Mariusz Kwiecien) and another time in the Dress Circle for Rigoletto (Schenk production) with Diana Damrau (and others I don't remember). Both times I was disappointed with the sounds since it sounded "off" which of course it was because I was so off to the side.

Finally, and I know this is off topic, best acoustics I've experienced is third level right box 17 at La Scala for La Traviata with Zeljko Lucic/Diana Damrau/Piotr Beczala


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