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What are the must-see shows at the Metropolitan Opera this season?

A spectacular stage, a gigantic hall, the Metropolitan is the opera of superlatives. The greatest artists take up residence there each season in productions that are open to modernity. The Met's reputation as the best opera house in the world is well established.

The Met is a true national institution. The theatre opened on Broadway on 22 October 1883 with Gounod's Faust, but it was not a financial success. Leopold Damrosch was appointed artistic director to mount a German season.

In 1891, the French and Italian repertoires were established as the first international glories: Lilli Lehmann or the mythical Caruso. The Met has always cultivated its reputation for excellence by inviting the world's best artists to the stage: Mahler, Toscanini, Gigli, Thill, Pons, Pinza... A whole American school of singing was also born (Rosa Ponselle, Lawrence Tibbett, Geraldine Farrar...). 

In 1955, for the first time, a black singer, Marian Anderson, performed in a leading role. The greatest figures of post-war opera (Callas, Tebaldi, Schwartzkopf, de Los Angeles, Sutherland, Leontyne Price, Nilsson, Corelli, Gobbi, Bergonzi...) contributed to the building of the myth.