Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced “Opera for All” on September 24, 2026, a long-term partnership with the Metropolitan Opera that will give 70,000 free tickets this season to New Yorkers who have not attended the Met recently. The Met will release 10,000 tickets each month by lottery throughout the 2026-27 season.
Key Takeaways
- The 70,000 free tickets make up about 10% of all Metropolitan Opera tickets for the 2026-27 season.
- Any New Yorker who has not bought a Met Opera ticket since 2019 can enter the monthly lottery at on.nyc.gov/opera or through the Met’s app.
- Seats are available in every section of the house except standing room.
- The Met has committed to continuing Opera for All in future seasons.
- City agencies including NYCHA, the Department of Social Services, New York City Public Schools, CUNY and all three public library systems will promote the lottery.
- This season’s productions include Macbeth, Lincoln in the Bardo and La Bohème.
Opera for All Opens Every Section of the Metropolitan Opera House
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the program alongside Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diya Vij. He did it in a video filmed on the Met’s stage with the cast of La Bohème. The format was a deliberate choice. Instead of a podium at City Hall, the announcement put viewers inside the building the program is meant to open up.
The terms back up that message. Opera for All is not a block of discounted seats in the upper balcony. Tickets will come from every section of the house except standing room, and they are free. The Met will release 10,000 each month for the rest of the 2026-27 season, beginning in September.
“Economic justice means access to the things that make a city worth living in,” Deputy Mayor Su said. “Too many New Yorkers have walked past Lincoln Center their whole lives and never gone inside. This season, tens of thousands of them will.”
The 2019 Cutoff Aims Opera for All at New and Lapsed Audiences
The eligibility rules show who the Metropolitan Opera wants to reach. The lottery is open only to New Yorkers who have not bought a Met ticket since 2019. That shuts out current subscribers and regular ticket buyers, who might otherwise enter a free lottery for seats they would have paid for.
The 2019 cutoff also takes in a second group beyond people who have never been. Many New Yorkers stopped attending live performances during and after the pandemic and never went back. The window lets the Met reach both first-timers and those lapsed patrons in the same lottery.
Met General Manager Peter Gelb described the initiative as a way to show that the company is a vital part of city life. The Met has committed to running the program in future seasons, so this year’s winners won’t be the only group invited in.
City Agencies and Libraries Will Carry the Lottery Into Neighborhoods
A lottery only reaches people who know it exists. The Mamdani administration plans to promote Opera for All through a wide network: the Department of Social Services, NYCHA, New York City Public Schools, Brooklyn Public Library, The New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, CUNY, the Department for the Aging and the Situation Project. The Mayor’s Office also says more ways to distribute tickets directly to New Yorkers will be announced in the coming months.
How well that outreach works will shape the program more than the headline number does. A NYCHA household in the Bronx or a senior center member in Queens may have no reason to check the Met’s app. Putting the lottery in the places those New Yorkers already visit is what turns the 70,000 figure into actual audience members.
NYC Aging Commissioner Lisa Scott-McKenzie pointed to older adults in particular. She noted that creative programming at older adult centers helps reduce social isolation, and said Opera for All extends that opportunity to the Met’s stage.
Opera for All Extends a Summer of Arts Access Programs
Opera for All is the latest in a string of Mamdani administration efforts that treat cultural access as part of the city’s affordability agenda. Earlier this summer, the administration worked with the Theater Development Fund to provide thousands of free and low-cost Broadway and off-Broadway tickets to high school students, along with free memberships to more than 20 cultural institutions. Those programs arrived during a season when the city’s free summer culture calendar brought Shakespeare and opera to parks across the five boroughs, which showed that there is real demand for professional performance without a high price tag.
Mayor Mamdani also placed Opera for All in a longer New York tradition. In 1943, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia helped establish New York City Center as a home for what he called “The People’s Opera,” with tickets priced from 75 cents to $2. More than 80 years later, the Mamdani administration is making a similar argument inside the house at Lincoln Center.
The Met’s 2026-27 Season Gives Newcomers a Range of Entry Points
First-time visitors will have plenty of variety. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2026-27 season opens with a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth. It also includes Lincoln in the Bardo, a new opera by Missy Mazzoli based on George Saunders’ novel, and a revival of Puccini’s La Bohème, one of the most widely performed works in the repertoire.
The program also has an economic side. The Met employs about 3,000 people, including performers, musicians, carpenters, wigmakers and ticket sellers, represented by 15 unions. Filling seats with new audiences helps keep that workforce busy. Whether first-time lottery winners eventually come back as paying ticket buyers is a question the Met and the City will be able to answer only after a full season.
FAQs
How do New Yorkers enter the Opera for All lottery?
New Yorkers can enter the monthly lottery at on.nyc.gov/opera or through the Metropolitan Opera’s app. The Met releases 10,000 free tickets each month during the 2026-27 season.
Who is eligible for free Met Opera tickets?
Any New Yorker who has not bought a Metropolitan Opera ticket since 2019 is eligible. The program is designed for first-time and lapsed audiences.
Are Opera for All seats in the back of the house?
No. Tickets are available in every section of the Metropolitan Opera House except standing room.
Which operas are included in the 2026-27 season?
This season’s performances include Macbeth, Lincoln in the Bardo and La Bohème. Lottery winners can attend productions across the season.
Will Opera for All continue after this season?
Yes. The Metropolitan Opera has committed to continuing Opera for All in future seasons as part of its long-term partnership with the City.
