This guide on the Metropolitan Opera House seating chart will help you find the best seats in the house. Get real-time seat availability and pricing, insider tips on the best seats and more
Navigating The Metropolitan Opera House Seating Chart
Metropolitan Opera House - Recommended Seats
• Value for money seats
- Orchestra: Orchestra Prime
- Parterre: Center seats
- Grand Tier: Rows four and five of center sections
- Dress Circle & Balcony: Middle seats
• If money were no matter
- Middle section seats of Orchestra, Parterre, and Grand Tier.
• Best views of the stage
- Orchestra: First 20 rows in Center Orchestra
- Parterre: First center row
- Grand Tier: First three rows
Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra
The Orchestra section is the largest seating area in the Metropolitan Opera House with a seating capacity of 1583, along with an additional 100 standing places. There are 33 rows in this section starting from A and ending with EE. Within the orchestra section, there are different subsections, each offering views of varying quality.
- Orchestra Premium Aisle: Two seats on each side of the aisle in the first twenty rows.
- Orchestra Premium: The center seats in the first twenty rows of orchestra constitute this subsection.
- Orchestra Prime: This subsection wraps around the orchestra premium subsection on sides and at the back.
- Orchestra Front Side: A small number of seats at the far side of row C through O.
- Orchestra Balance: The corner seats behind and to the sides of the sections listed above.
- Orchestra Rear: The last three rows in the orchestra section, including seats at the sides.
- Standing Room: Three rows behind orchestra rear which don't offer a physical seat for patrons but a standing area to watch the performance.
Which Seats Offer the Best View?
Seating and acoustics in an opera house are much different from a regular Broadway theatre. While you'll get both a good view and great sound at the lower level of the house, you'll be better off acoustically at the higher levels. Still, there's something undeniably great about the middle section seats of the orchestra level. You'll get a great look at the stage and the sound will also be great. The same applies to the next two sections parterre and grand tier. You'll notice while booking your tickets that seats in the first three rows of this section are marked "premium". These should be your first choice if money is not a concern. Specifically, the first twenty rows in center orchestra, the first center row in parterre and the first three rows in the grand tier section should be your pick.
Which Seats/Section Offer the Best Value for Money?
The Metropolitan Opera House offers 3800 seats for you to choose from. This means you can have your pick of budget-friendly seats across different sections. For instance, in the orchestra section, the orchestra prime which wraps around the premium subsection are quite value for money. Similarly, seats in the parterre center section offers a great view of the stage without costing quite as much as premium seats. In the grand tier section, rows four and five of the center two sections can be considered value for money. If you don't mind being further back, you'll find many reasonably priced seats in the middle of the dress circle and balcony section. You'll find the cheapest seats in the house in the family circle section, although the view offered isn't anything to write home about.
30-Second Takeaway: Metropolitan Opera House
- One of the most iconic landmarks in New York City, the Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square.
- The performance venue opened in 1966, taking the place of the original 1883 Metropolitan Opera House. The opulent and dazzlingly beautiful opera house has a seating capacity of 3800, making it the largest repertory opera house in the world!
- Apart from operas, the Metropolitan Opera House New York has also hosted concerts by global artists including Paul McCartney, Barbara Streisand, The Who, and countless others.
- The Metropolitan Opera House is also home to the Metropolitan Opera Company and the American Ballet Theatre in the summer months.
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FAQs:
The Metropolitan Opera House, with a massive seating capacity of 3800, is officially the largest repertory opera house in the world. The performance venue features a ground level orchestra section with five additional elevated sections that form an inverted U-shape.
The best seat in the Met Opera House for acoustics is the row on either side of the seven seats that are always reserved for the conductor and orchestra.
It opened in 1966, replacing the original 1883 Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th Street. With a seating capacity of approximately 3,850, the house is the largest repertory opera house in the world.
Before the ADA the Met had eight wheelchair accessible places in row G of the Dress Circle and four in the last row of the Orchestra. They were almost always full. Now the Met has 34 accessible places in the Dress Circle, Parterre, Grand Tier and Orchestra levels.
