Poignant return for Met Opera after lengthy pandemic pause

NEW YORK (AP) — Even before the first note, there were a pair of standing ovations — one when the chorus filed in and another when concertmaster Benjamin Bowman walked on to tune up the orchestra.

About 90 minutes later, when conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin relaxed his arms, the 3,600 people filling the seats of the Metropolitan Opera House responded with 8 1/2 minutes of thunderous applause, bringing wide smiles and hints of tears to the 200-plus performers on stage.

For the first time in 550 days, an audience was inside the auditorium at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday night, attending a poignant performance of the Verdi Requiem. The night was in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, er3dwwwdfcgrvszterrorist attacks but in fact marked much more.

The company was performing in its home for the first time since hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including Met violist Vincent Lionti, assistant conductor Joel Revzen and chorister Antoine Hodge.

It also marked the first performance in the house since the death of conductor James Levine, the Met's towering figure of the last half-century. He died in March at 77, a little over three years after was he was fired for sexual improprieties. Verdi was a specialty, and the last of his 2,552 Met performances was the company’s previous Verdi Requiem in December 2017.

Levine’s successor as music director was on the podium. The 46-year-old Nézet-Séguin led a performance of far more impact and subtlety than Levine’s final efforts, when his conducting was hampered by Parkinson’s Disease.

Following a year of labor strife that culminated in new contracts, the Met orchestra of 90 and chorus of 120 led by chorus master Donald Palumbo showed the world-class status...