70,000 Free Met Opera Seats Go to New Yorkers by Lottery
Enter a monthly draw for free seats across the Met house, open to city residents with no Met ticket purchase from 2019 on.
🎭 How Opera for All Works
Opera just got a lot easier to walk into. Opera for All, a new partnership between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Metropolitan Opera, is giving away 70,000 free tickets over the 2026 to 2027 season, released by lottery at 10,000 a month.
The draw is open to residents of the five boroughs who can confirm where they live with a valid ID and who have not bought a Met ticket in 2019 or later. Sign up through the city's Opera for All page or the Met Opera app. Winners are picked at random each month, and the free seats come from every section of the house except standing room, orchestra level included.
The prize is a night at 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, where a curving grand staircase rises under starburst chandeliers and the red and gold auditorium holds a 4.8 rating from more than 7,200 reviewers. On the season bill are Macbeth, La Bohème, and Lincoln in the Bardo.
