NYC Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani has announced “Opera for All,” which will be offering 70,000 free tickets to the Metropolitan Opera for New Yorkers who have never attended the Met opera before. 

From this September, the Met will release 10,000 tickets each month throughout the 2026/27 season via a monthly lottery here or through the Met’s app. These tickets account for around 10% of all tickets for the entire season. 

The Met’s upcoming performances include Macbeth, Lincoln in the Bardo and La Bohème.

“Opera for All” is set to continue in all the company’s future seasons. The offered tickets are available in every section of the opera house, excluding the standing room. 

Any New Yorker who has not purchased a Met Opera ticket since 2019 is eligible to enter the lottery. More ways for the tickets to be distributed will be announced in the coming months. 

This new project builds on the Mamdani administration’s work to make New York’s arts and culture accessible to all. Earlier this summer, Mayor Mamdani also provided thousands of free and low-cost Broadway and off-Broadway tickets to high school students, plus free memberships to more than 20 cultural institutions across NYC.

 

 

“Opera is one of the greatest art forms we have, and there is no better place to experience it than the Metropolitan Opera House,” says Mayor Mamdani. “But art should not be reserved for those who can afford it. Every New Yorker should have the opportunity to sit in these seats, hear these voices and experience this stage, no matter what’s in their bank account. From the rise of opera buffa in the 18th century to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s ‘people’s opera’ in the 1940s, this art form was meant to be seen by everyone.”

“Throughout its storied history, the Met has culturally enriched New York,” adds Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager. “With this new initiative, we hope to further demonstrate that the Met is a vital part of life in the city.”

“Economic justice means access to the things that make a city worth living in,” says Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. “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 Met Opera’s iconic stage is one that too many New Yorkers have yet to experience for themselves. Thanks to this partnership, that’s about to change,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diya Vij. “Opera has a long history of welcoming working people of all ages. With ‘Opera for All,’ we’re getting back to these roots and letting all New Yorkers know that the incredible work on this stage is for them, too.”