The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

New York's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra dates back as an established ensemble almost to the Metropolitan Opera's founding in the 1880s. New York upper-crust families launched an effort to establish a world-class opera company in 1880, and the Metropolitan Opera was launched with the 1883-1884 season. Important early conductors included Alfred Hertz, Gustav Mahler, and Arturo Toscanini. Through the middle of the 20th century and beyond, the Metropolitan Opera was led by conductors who were also prominent in the field of orchestral music. The company pioneered operatic broadcasts on radio (from 1930) and television (from 1940), which arguably increased the prominence of the orchestra. Doubtless, the most significant of the orchestra's more recent conductors has been James Levine. Levine was succeeded by Fabio Luisi and by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director since 2018. The orchestra has issued several recordings independent of operatic productions, including A Concert for Ukraine in 2022.