A night at the New York Metropolitan Opera | 60 Minutes Archive

From 2013, Bob Simon reports on the New York Metropolitan Opera and how its general manager, Peter Gelb, has reinvigorated the centuries-old art form by making it more accessible and modernized.
"60 Minutes" is the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10.
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[@samueljaramillo4221]

I’ve been listening to opera fifty five years and We’ve been attending opera at the Met for forty five years. My first opera was Carmen and I was hooked. I can’t imagine my life without this amazing, glorious art form. You have it all. Music, drama,comedy, dance, and beautiful sets. And the most amazing voices in the world. All I can say to someone who’s never heard or been to the opera is try it you’ll probably love it. The Met HD performances is a good way to get started.

[@kellicoffman8440]

I love the H D performances and am a big fan of the met Carmen

[@kellicoffman8440]

I agree people who don’t try it don’t know what they are missing

[@SneakyNinja-el5bn]

Love the Met! I saw their production of Rigoletto this season and it was simply spectacular. (And speaking as a college student - affordable, too)

[@maxbear215]

I became a convert over 20 years ago when I saw my first Opera, Aida at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA. I have now seen over two dozen performances at the Met and a few at the Vienna State Opera and La Scala. No artistic medium can move you like a live performance at the Opera. It's not uncommon to see the audience weeping or screaming in joy. Life wouldn't be worth living without Opera. Thank God for the Met!!!

[@smartmagis]

hoping to see Aida at LA Opera this week before it closes. I became a convert 4 years ago when I caught Satyagraha there. I'm now completely obsessed!

[@rondifrankel]

I'm glad Gelb's gamble seems to be paying off. Although traditional representations will always have their place, he is absolutely right that opera needs to reclaim the wider audience it had in times past. Bravo!

[@jonaskaufmann9845]

Thank you so much

[@shevaposman2849]

All I can say, oh my heart!!! Love every bit of opera. All singers are amazing! From my early teens to now in my late 80s, loved music but Opera is in my soul! I laugh. And cry with each performance. In my heart and deep in my soul.

[@soavemusica]

"Contemporary" theatre kills the music, disgusting & obscene. No matter, great singing is on records already made.

[@pedinurse1]

He made a great mistake by cancelling Anna Netrebko

[@tatianalyulkin410]

It wasn't a mistake. He was virtue signaling.

[@stevenvoorhees3107]

I've been to the Met four times in my life. Every time I walked into the House, I always felt thrilled. In the audience, the Met is perfection. But backstage, as Bob Simon says, "you can cut the tension with an A-flat." Yet in the end, it's so worth it! BRAVO!!

[@scottreiburnNYC]

Thank you, CBS, for releasing this segment. Bob Simon, one of the great journalists, who I’m sure so many of us miss. The Metropolitan, one of the great, important arts venues in the entire world. How many places can you say that about? A handful. I hope the art form never dies. It must be protected. We have to keep getting younger generations through the doors. Thanks for lifting my spirits. Badly needed.

[@moorfan1]

RIP Bob Simon. I met him one night outside the Met, where he had attended the same performance. He was a true fan of the art form.

[@jonaskaufmann9845]

💔💔💔

[@johnblasiak9331]

Thank God for Opera , pure magic

[@joydavis4087]

I love, love, love opera. Wish I could see a show at the Met.

[@srothbardt]

They have live broadcasts and encore broadcasts at your local movie theatre.

[@kellicoffman8440]

Me too so far DVD’s and the H d performance 🎭 is as close as I’ve gotten

[@the44118]

I don't know how I came across this video but I'm glad I watched it. Very interesting!!

[@aimeemonahan]

Thanks for highlighting the Met, and opera in general. I’ve been enjoying opera since high school and it is a magnificent art form that I hope can become more accessible to everyone

[@srothbardt]

See it at your local movie theatre. Go online to see when etc.

[@hummersd]

60 Minutes -- more of these, please! Love the behind the scenes of such a big project, showing the process and the triumph. I hear The Met is doing The Hours later this year as a new opera... maybe that can be followed?

[@jonaskaufmann9845]

❤️🥰❤️

[@srothbardt]

See the Met in movie theatres and you get plenty back stage stuff.

[@vbowling593]

The Met Opera is on fire! The productions are extraordinary! Tickets are at all kinds of prices including standing room in the orchestra, rush tickets, etc. 60 Minutes should next cover the amazing and wide ranging fashion scene from the audience. So fun. Thank you 60 Minutes for re-posting.

[@jordandavis1225]

I met that Welsh opera singer when I interned at the lyric opera and he was so sweet to us these singers are the reason I will never give up on my opera dream

[@shevaposman2849]

Oh my heart !!!! Thank you so very much. 🙏💋

[@riohenry6382]

If people want an intro to opera, Tosca by Puccini is a great place to start. It is a beautiful opera and sits nicely between the baroque composers (Handel, Vivaldi) 😅and the more modern ones (Mahler, Wagner)

[@canamus1768]

tosca was pemiered in 1900, so it's well distanced from the operas of vivaldi and handel by almost two centuries. also, it doesn't predate wagner and his music dramas, but actually incorporates to a degree his compositional innovation of the use of musical leitmotifs to signify particular characters and situations (e.g., the famous "scarpia" chords that open the opera, signifying the corrupt roman chief of police, baron scarpia, and his pervasive influence in the unfolding drama). that said, tosca is a good intro to opera, with its engaging political thriller plot that unfolds in an almost cinematic fashion.

[@Ariadne-cg4cq]

@@canamus1768 Although Tosca is a good first introduction to the Opera genre to a newcomer I have used Traviata as a fist introduction to several friends who wanted to try it out and they were thrilled. It is a very human story, very relatable to newcomers and has very catchy but beautifully melodious tunes which are quite singalong. So not hard to understand.

[@canamus1768]

@@Ariadne-cg4cq there are several good "firsts" for opera newbies: la boheme, carmen, gianni schicchi, pagliacci, cavalleria rusticana, perhaps madama butterfly and il barbiere di siviglia, all come immediately to mind.

[@Ariadne-cg4cq]

@@canamus1768 Oh, I agree there are numerous operas that would be good firsts but I have found that a singalong catchy tune that people can remember is a huge plus for newcomers. And le barbiere di Siviglia of course has the catchiest tune of all in the largo al factotum!

[@canamus1768]

@@Ariadne-cg4cq on the "greatest hits" count, carmen would probably surpass them all.

[@BRIDGETTWC]

Thanks for uploading!

[@Melissa0774]

8:57 - the guy even laughs like an opera singer, lol.

[@illyaismaili6413]

1:01 This is the best production of Carmen, EVER. Change my mind.

[@sueb1337]

Wouldn’t want to change your mind.. Elina is the best Carmen😍

[@kellicoffman8440]

I totally 💯 agree I have the dvd 📀 in my Carmen collection and it is the best hands down

[@stephenlagan8569]

Diana Damrau is so cute: "Let's go and die." lol

[@kellicoffman8440]

😂 lol

[@trbryant3]

Met Live in HD is fantastic!

[@bonniehawkins2979]

Thank you.

[@poorwotan]

It would be a good follow-up to talk to them now and see how those changes have been accepted/rejected/etc. with an update over the Covid period. There has been a lot of changes at the Met since this report that might be interesting to report on.

[@RaymondHng]

That's one snazzy-looking Sparafuciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile

[@musicallydisneyamvs6731]

I go to AMC’s for the live Operas and always disappointed if I can’t make time to see one. I hope it never dies. I also wanna become an opera singer.

[@kathybechtol5889]

Met Live in HD makes Opera affordable and exposes more people to all the great performances. The first performance I saw was Norma. I just saw Hamlet last week.

[@santividal9387]

I'm 17 and I love Ópera

[@kellicoffman8440]

Good for you

[@karenspivey3203]

This I love!

[@larrychan622]

IMHO Gelb's greatest achievement has been the HD Streaming service which is well worth the cost of a full year subscription. In terms of other marketing ploys, they need to think outside the box. They've never thought to try and appeal to the LOTR fan base . There are significant elements of Tolkien's body of work that draw from the same sources as Wagner's Ring Cycle. If you can easily binge watch all 3 episodes of Peter Jackson's LOTR, then you can certainly sit through Das Rheingold at the very least for starters. I prefer the 1990 James Morris version, although the 2010 Bryn Terfel version is also excellent (I just despise that AV mechanical see-saw monstrosity, I just cringe when I see it going full tilt in Die Walküre, but to each their own.

[@exerciserelax8719]

That's cool, it looks really good.

[@phinathiel2446]

Wonderful tx!!!

[@CuriouslyChris1]

Yes

[@susanvaughan4210]

I wish the fact that in an opera house, electronic amplification is rarely used, could have been made. The uninitiated may not understand what the human voice is capable of.

[@cindymorrison_caravanlifej3536]

Yes love ❤️

[@Castorp-wn7dh]

Today's opera surpasses the earlier opera in all aspects apart from three things: GREAT SINGERS like Domingo or Pavarotti, Price or Sutherland, GREAT CONDUCTORS like Abbado or Levine, Mehta or Kleiber and GREAT DIRECTORS like Zeffirelli or Ponnelle, Copley or Schenk.

[@yvonneplant9434]

I agree. But Yannick Nezet-Seguin is the kind of new conductor energy they need.

[@Ariadne-cg4cq]

@ Castorp81 You are absolutely right particularly true of the singers. Where are today’s Corelli, del Monaco, Bergonzi Siepi, Bastianini, Caballe, Nilsson, Callas, and so many others. The current crop of so called top singers are a pale shadow of the greats. All they are interested in is preserving their voices into their 60s and beyond.

[@keouine]

@@Ariadne-cg4cq What's left?

[@mortalclown3812]

Rest in peace, Bob.

[@cindymorrison_caravanlifej3536]

I purchase to watch live on my iPad just a thought 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@allenjones3130]

I wish Bryn Terfel would sing Rigoletto. On the other hand, it's possible that Verdi may not appeal to him.

[@kellicoffman8440]

Yes he would be awesome 👏 but then he is great in anything

[@cindymorrison_caravanlifej3536]

Can they put on KZbin or streaming channels

[@poorwotan]

During Covid, they had a free stream daily. It was truly wonderful! That said, they have their own streaming platform through their website. The movie theater transmissions (live) happen like once a month on a Saturday (during their season: Sept-April/May?) and there is usually a rebroadcast on Wednesday.

[@richardwallen2125]

You can also watch many full operas on KZbin. I highly recommend La Traviata if you’ve not seen it.

[@vincekerrigan8300]

​​@@richardwallen2125A great Met. performance of Traviata on YT is the one in which tenor Jan Peerce made his Met debut in 1941. The critics described his performance as a return to the Golden Age of singing. It is just a radio recording, though.

[@aanon5716]

i saw one opera @ the met & adored it!!!!! the building itself is one of these "WOW" !!! moments. BUT i cant really afford even the worst seats & they are bad, so far away you cant really see anyone. its like you can see tiny figures IF someones big head isnt blocking that ant size view! & those tkts are $100. the best seats are over $1000. ! so thats why many people dont get to enjoy live opera. @ the met.

[@davidburgess3882]

bought a ticket to an NFL or NBA game lately? $$$... Or a rock or pop concert? Cheapest tickets for major stars are $150+

[@laprimmadonna2341]

Pues si en el Met la gente va en masa a ver ópera, felicitaciones. Pero, la realidad es que las dos primeras décadas del siglo XXI han sido las peores para la ópera. Malos directores, pésimas producciones, puestas en escenas terribles, incomprensibles, los lenguajes muy mal utilizados, y cantantes muy mediocres. Y, después de la pandemia sigue peor, entradas muy caras y lo que se escucha en el teatro es lamentable. Se necesita volver a la esencia de la ópera: tragedia y drama. El Rigoletto es una profunda reflexión de la angustia humana, del vacío , del mal moral que medito el grandísimo Verdi. Es una obra atemporal, magistral…eso no se entiende, ni se comprende hoy en día, y así pasa con todos los demás gloriosos títulos. En fin…esperemos que una nueva generación cambie esto, a ver si se arregla. Gracias por el vídeo. Saludos cordiales.

[@crazyman8472]

I don’t know, it’s not the same without the Marx Bros. coming out of the woodwork. 😜

[@srothbardt]

See Verdi's "Falstaff".

[@crazyman8472]

@@srothbardt I will, and thanks for the recommendation! 😁

[@alexaales7937]

i am not big on opera let alone operetta, i tried to listen to the classics over the years. the male voices are great but as soon as the females starts shrieking it's over for me. the one i really like cause i am also into baroque music is 'dido and aeneas' by henry purcell, a true masterpiece!

[@srothbardt]

They should put on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with Mendelssohn's complete music. Not an opera, but it's Shakespeare's play; Or put on Britten's opera of the play. It's a good opera apparently never done at the Met. At least, not recently. I liked their "Rigoletto."

[@infinitelytheheartexpands]

it’s a great opera! the Met last did it in 2013, and I hope they do it again and film it

[@troymacdonald8257]

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@Riv3rch781]

😍❤️

[@rogerpropes7129]

Many operas do have happy endings, they're called comic operas.

[@sylviebasyl2835]

l'opéra-comique désigne un genre lyrique où alternent parties musicales chantées et dialogues parlés (avec des apartés destinés au public).

[@erikaperu73eg]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏❣️

[@ka5822]

Love the Met...seems like they left out reporting on Gelb being under fire for his handling of Covid......I rarely get a chance to go to the Met in person--but grew up listening on Saturdays to the Texaco Met Broadcasts, watching the broadcasts on PBS, etc. Love the art form--and have mixed feelings sometimes about some of the "modern" productions--some work, some are terrible (but that can also be said of traditional ones.).

[@jamesmorris1657]

Every time I went to see Wagner the house was filled.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

aww I miss Bob Simon and the other late generation of 60 minutes correspondents.

[@kaloarepo288]

I love intelligent modern productions of operas though I also appreciate spectacular traditional interpretations.Modern productions allow the singers to be much better actors whereas ornate but bulky costumes weigh the singers down and greatly hinder movement.I have seen productions on video where singers sing while lying down and even while almost upside down.I have one video of Handel's opera "Hercules" where the people are wearing jeans and Hercules eats an apple on stage and the whole thing is enthralling and fantastic!

[@notnek202]

So why do most opera singers hate modern productions? Many modern productions make singers do things that are ridiculous & dangerous to the voice because the producers hate opera.

[@keouine]

OMG Lying down or running around on stage can't be good for focusing on one's performance much less breathing correctly

[@dagmarvandoren9364]

It's not the most important opera house in the world....

[@laprimmadonna2341]

❤❤Muy bien dicho. Saludos cordiales

[@kellicoffman8440]

It is however my favorite or was

[@aarononeal9830]

60 minutes needs to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants tress

[@orion8835]

Nah the modernist bizarre reinvented productions have ruined ticket sales and dropped attendance. Only the traditional or slightly updated opera productions succeed. Many of the voices are a mess. Most are singing repertoire that is too large for them ( sopranos especially) another creepy trend.

[@laprimmadonna2341]

❤❤❤tienes toda la razón, Orión. Saludos cordiales.

[@salvatorebaudo6477]

opera is a thing that grows on a person.YOU MUST START OUT SMALL AND GRADUALLY GO FOR MORE LENGHTY OPERAS. i WOULD START WITH CAVALERIA 0R PAGLIACCI. tHEY ARE REAL LIFE DRAMAS THAT WOULD APPEAL TO TODAYS CROWD. bUT SAYING THAT I WILLALSO SAY THAT OPERA WILL ALWAYS APPEAL TO A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULACE.

[@crazyman8472]

5:40 “How do you get to the Met?” “Money, lots and lots of money!” 🤑

[@erzsebetmelegh3095]

Hol vagy Dima?

[@papagen00]

The Met is not "the most important opera house in the world". Only they think they are.

[@susanlandsman9572]

Except that the European singers think the Met is the most important opera in the world.

[@Ariadne-cg4cq]

@@susanlandsman9572 Most European singers want to sing at the Met not because they think it is the most important Opera House in the world but because it is the one which pays them the highest fees. There are several European Opera Houses where the quality of the opera productions (particularly the musical part) is superior to the Met and those are the ones where the singers want to make their reputation on.

[@srothbardt]

Beecham said to the cab driver asking for entertainment tax, "My dear sir, the Metropolitan Opera is not entertainment!"

[@papagen00]

@@srothbardt In his first season at Philadelphia Orchestra, Muti was horrified to find his concert reviews in the newspaper's entertainment section.

[@musettina6adina224]

@@susanlandsman9572 certainly not!! nothing compares to La Scala , the major and historically most important opera house where many of these works by Verdi or Puccini were first performed . There are also the Vienna State Opera and Covent Garden in London that are top Opera houses, very much sought after by singers promoting their career . In the US though, the MET is the top Opera house, and European singers will feel they have hit the jackpot once they have had their debut there, since the MET fees are simply higher than European ones.

[@notnek202]

The problem with opera today it’s about the look not about the singers. So if you are hot looking you get the part even if you can barely sing a note the great voices are rejected if they aren’t young,beautiful, slim, muscular.

[@srothbardt]

Nothing new really.

[@laprimmadonna2341]

Cierto. Pero ya no están las grandes voces. Hoy no existe la ópera, solo una imitación de lo que un día fue. Saludos cordiales ❤❤❤

[@BellaFirenze]

Povero Verdi.

[@kellicoffman8440]

😂lol

[@BellaFirenze]

@@kellicoffman8440 Povera tua mamma.

[@davidrhee5515]

I saw Aida in Verona Italy during their opera festival in their colosseum in the middle of town. I couldn't have been more bored, and I couldn't leave because the seats weren't conducive to moving. I will never attend another opera again if I can help it lol!

[@kellicoffman8440]

You might try one that includes subtle I expect they didn’t have them there the met does and a lot of DVD’s of opera as well it makes all the difference

[@pedinurse1]

Unfortunately the all knowing Mr Gelb cancelled the great Anna Netrebko , stupid is as stupid is, so what happens now, no one can match her . Maybe he can get on stage with his grandkids and play some fiddle or something. Im so mad that he did this,. I will not support the Met Opera till he brings the great Netrebko back. BOOHIS

[@kellicoffman8440]

I hear you Anna is the best

[@tatianalyulkin410]

It's not the point. Say Gelb's drivel is true and Putin is truly a monster. What gives " us " the right to demand that actors, musicians, singers lead the charge when " we " are sitting on our designer sofas watching CARMEN? How dare " we " demand that every actor be a Paul Robeson or a Victor Jara? Who the hell do " we " think " we " are??? You don't have any use for Putin- go to Ukraine and join the bloody Loyalists! But leave Anna Netrebko alone!

[@giselamarch1994]

I love opera. But to take it out of its original setting looses a lot. I would not want to attend such a performance.

[@pedinurse1]

Why did you cancel Anna Netrebko . are you racist???

[@kellicoffman8440]

Anna supports Russia 🇷🇺 and Peter Gelb’s wife is Ukraine 🇺🇦

[@tatianalyulkin410]

Yes, he is. He's a fake Banderite but his wife is the real deal. So he's virtue signaling trying to please her.

[@tatianalyulkin410]

I never claimed to be anything but Ukrainian and I stand with Anna. And Gelb is a sycophant and a fake Banderite.

[@FCOLAXCDG]

13:45 Of Sublime Content-But Only One African-American (Who Mirrored A Savage-No Other B-Roll Option?)...#DoMoreWithColor #MET ❤️🇱🇨

[@jjlungdoc7472]

Is Gelb reinventing or sinking opera? The Met is drifting fast toward bankruptcy while blaming the audience is supposed to serve. This production of Rigoletto didn’t last. It is already canned or put in the sack ( pun intended). The new one set in Berlin did not fare much better either. Gelb brought Eurotrash productions to the Met. Most of his new productions have failed while wasting millions: Tosca, The Ring, Cosi fan tutte and more recently Carmen , Lucia and now Forza. Never to be outdone, next year is likely to be Aida. Thank you Peter for all your failed efforts but could you please quit ASAP?

[@pietrojenkins6901]

Glad the New York Metropolitan Opera decided to sanction Russian performers.

[@davegreene8588]

Only the ones seeming in favor of putin.

[@Udontkno7]

in time of war…

[@srothbardt]

Very sad.

[@tatianalyulkin410]

First of all Gelb is not a patriot- nor is he a true believing Banderite. Second of all, the pathetic virtue signaling fake was able to pull that crap with Netrebko because my godparents Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof are no longer with us. Mom would have had his miserable excuse for a career destroyed in 5 seconds! But the time she would have been done with him Gelb would not have been able to get himself hired to direct a Xmas Pageant in Daly City, CA.

[@claybyrd2]

Uh, sorry, no they wouldn't. Opera remains elitist and will always be. I love and have seen theater in all its forms -- from musicals on Broadway to little church basements presenting experimental theater. I have sat through more than a few operas and hated every single one of them.

[@johnrandolph6121]

What makes opera any more elitist than other theater? Or musicals?

[@kellicoffman8440]

Why?