About Opera boxes
Founding the Metropolitan OperaSourceAn Age of Opulence. The story of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City unfolds amid privilege and desire. During the late nineteenth century a coterie of moneyed families, their fortunes swelled by post-Civil War speculation, set new standards for conspicuous consumption. Yet despite their cash and their flash, the nouveaux riches of New York remained excluded from the inner circles of the old Knickerbocker gentry. In the 1870s and early 1880s New York boasted an adequate opera house: the Academy of Music, founded in 1849 and located downtown on Fourteenth Street. Edith Wharton (1862-1937), novelist of New York manners, opened her Age of Innocence (1920) at the academy: “the world of fashion was still content to reassemble every winter in the shabby red and gold boxes of the sociable old Academy. Conservatives cherished it for being small and inconvenient, and thus keeping out the ‘new people’ whom New York was beginning to dread and yet be drawn to.” The old families controlled the “sociable old Academy”; the “new people” angled for acceptance. One evening in 1880 the balance of social power shifted. German soprano Lilli Lehmann (1848-1929) recalled the fateful moment in her memoir, My Path Through Life (1914): “As one evening [at the Academy] one of the millionairesses did not receive the box in which she intended to shine because another woman had anticipated her, the husband of the former took prompt action and caused the Metropolitan Opera House to rise.”Under Construction. The snubbing of the “millionairess”—a Vanderbilt, as fate would have it—inflamed the “new money” set. These “upstarts” pooled their resources and designated a site for a new opera house on Broadway between Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Streets. Construction began in 1881 and proceeded slightly behind schedule. By spring 1883 the building was finished, and the choicest boxes were apportioned among the shareholders. On 22 October the Metropolitan staged its first opera: Charles Gounod’s Faust (1859), featuring the soprano Christine Nilsson in the role of Margherita.Rank and Ruckus. Architect Josiah Cleveland Cady (1837-1919) had designed several other New York landmarks, among them the Museum of Naturai History. The Met, however, was Cady’s only theater, and connoisseurs complained about poor acoustics and a small backstage area. More problematic than the architectural design, however, was the behavior of society patrons. For many people, the ritual of operagoing had next to nothing to do with music. With three full tiers of private boxes, the Met more than doubled the luxury capacity of the old Academy. All told, boxes accounted for nearly 25 percent of the three-thousand-odd seats at the Met. For many who owned or rented “box” seats, a night at the opera meant a chance to display one’s wardrobe and chat with one’s friends. Upper-class patrons ignored a notice posted in January 1891 by the Met’s board of directors: “Many complaints having been made to the directors of the Opera House of the annoyance produced by the talking in the boxes during the performance, the Board
Key features of the Opera boxes that are enabled through these drivers include:
- Contact/ Hire - Opera in a Box
- opera in exile - Parterre Box
- Opera in a Box (@operainabox) / Twitter
- Opera Music Boxes and Mechanisms
- Opera Boxes at the Wilson Center
- Opera Boxes by longjohn - ePHOTOzine
- PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – Music Boxes
€12 Tickets for this event are available starting May 1, 2018 at www.ticketservices.gr and at the Apollo Theater - +30 22810 85192 Wednesday, July 25, 2018 — Apollo Theater, 8:30pm Greek Opera Studio "Gala" Featuring Greek Opera Studio Participants in opera duets and scenes MARIOS KAZAS, Pianist (Greece) SPYROS SOULADAKIS, Pianist (Greece) DETLEF SÖLTER, KRISTINA FRANZ, EILANA LAPPALAINEN, Stage Directors EILANA LAPPALAINEN, General & Artistic Director of Greek Opera Studio Grand Tier, lower and upper boxes: €18 Lower and upper balconies: €12 Tickets for this event are available starting May 1, 2018 at www.ticketservices.gr and at the Apollo Theater - +30 22810 85192 Thursday, July 26, 2018 — Apollo Theater, 8:30pm The Stratos Vougas Jazz Quintet "Pure Jazz from Athens" STRATOS VOUGAS - Saxophone DIMITRIS PAPADOPOULOS - Trumpet GIOTIS SAMARAS - Guitar KOSTAS KONSTANTINOU - Bass JOHN PAPADOULIS – Drums Grand Tier, lower and upper boxes: €24 Lower and upper balconies: €16 Tickets for this event are available starting May 1, 2018 at www.ticketservices.gr and at the Apollo Theater - +30 22810 85192 Friday, July 27, 2018 — Apollo Theater, 8:30pm Theodorakis ELECTRA (Dance Performance) (World Premiere) RENATO ZANELLA, Choreographer (Italy) ASTERIS KUTULAS, Co-Director Cast: ELECTRA – Sofia Pintzou, (Greece) CLYTEMNESTRA – Alexandra Gravilescu, (Romania) CHRYSOTHEMIS – Tamara Alves Dornelas Souza, (Brazil) ORESTES – Eltion Merja, (Albania) AIGISTHOS – Valentin Stoica, (Romania) PYLADES – Florient Cador, (France) In cooperation with Europaballett Grand Tier, lower and upper boxes: €30 Lower and upper balconies: €20 Tickets for this event are available starting May 1, 2018 at www.ticketservices.gr and at the Apollo Theater - +30 22810 85192 Saturday, July 28, 2018 — Apollo Theater, 8:30pm Theodorakis ELECTRA (Dance Performance) RENATO ZANELLA, Choreographer (Italy) ASTERIS KUTULAS, Co-Director Cast: ELECTRA – Sofia Pintzou, (Greece) CLYTEMNESTRA – Alexandra Gravilescu, (Romania) CHRYSOTHEMIS – Tamara Alves Dornelas Souza, (Brazil) ORESTES – Eltion Merja, (Albania) AIGISTHOS – Valentin Stoica, (Romania) PYLADES – Florient Cador, (France) In cooperation with Europaballett Grand Tier, lower and upper boxes: €30 Lower and upper balconies: €20 Tickets for this event are available starting May 1, 2018 at www.ticketservices.gr and at the Apollo Theater - +30 22810 85192 Sunday, July 29, 2018 — Apollo Theater, 8:30pm Theodorakis ELECTRA (Dance Performance) RENATO ZANELLA, Choreographer (Italy) ASTERIS KUTULAS, Co-Director Cast: ELECTRA – Sofia Pintzou, (Greece) CLYTEMNESTRA – Alexandra Gravilescu, (Romania) CHRYSOTHEMIS – Tamara Alves Dornelas Souza, (Brazil) ORESTES – Eltion Merja, (Albania) AIGISTHOS – Valentin Stoica, (Romania) PYLADES – Florient Cador, (France) In cooperation with Europaballett Grand Tier, lower and upper boxes: €30 Lower and upper balconies: €20 Tickets for this event are available starting May 1, 2018 at www.ticketservices.gr and at the Apollo Theater - +30 22810 85192 Monday, July 23, 2018 — Apollo Theater, 8:30pm Pan-European Philharmonia (Warsaw) Athens Concert Hall (Megaron Musikis) Athens, Greece “Great Opera Moments from Great Operas” Music by Wagner, Mozart, Giordano, Beethoven, Puccini, Verdi, Mascagni World-class soloists and choruses from the USA and France Choirs from Greece, France and US. PETER TIBORIS, Conductor DAVID R. THYE, Chorus Master Arias, Duets,
