In 1927, Benjamin Wistar Morris (who designed the Cunard Building) was appointed architect and Joseph Urban (who designed the original Zigfield Theater) was named associate architect.

This new opera house would have a seating capacity of 4,000 (from 3,500), fewer boxes (which also would be leased and not bought), and it would be “a plain and dignified opera house, rather than an ornamental or monumental one.” Their definitions of “plain and dignified” are debatable since an official at the Opera Company stated that “here is only one style of architecture that would do for a new Opera House in New York, and that is the modern New York Style a skyscraper with towers and terraces in the revised Babylonian style.” Kahn, the President of the Metropolitan Opera Company and Chairman of its Board of Directors, was driving force behind the plan to erect a new opera house further uptown. The exhibits on the following pages present performance clips and highlights from the Met's award-winning Live in HD series of global movie-theater transmissions, interviews with the directors of the 2015–16 season's new productions, and other behind-the-scenes content.In the mid-1920s, Otto H. Under the leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine, the Met engages the most imaginative directors working in theater and opera to create new productions.

Founded in 1883 by a group of wealthy businessmen, the Met launched with a performance of Gounod’s 'Faust,' and since that first night, the company has continually engaged the world’s greatest singers, including Enrico Caruso, Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, and countless other extraordinary artists. For more than 130 years, the Metropolitan Opera has been a vibrant home for the most creative and talented artists working in opera, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers.

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