Metropolitan Opera

For opera lovers, there’s only one Met (and it’s not the Upper East Side Museum). With its red-velvet staircases, gilded banisters, two massive Chagalls and ritual of slowly rising Swarovski chandeliers, the city’s opera house holds on to old-world glamour even while it’s trying to forge a future for this endangered art form. Under the direction of Peter Gelb, the Met has pumped a ton of money into PR campaigns, live HD transmissions (which have been very successful) and more modern productions. And while every season now has some stunt casting of Broadway or film directors attempting to lend themselves to opera scores, the house still draws the world’s most acclaimed singers, musicians and conductors. Tip: The higher you sit, the better the acoustics.

During the late spring and early summer, when the opera is on hiatus, American Ballet Theater (www.abt.org) has its guest run in New York at the Met, so for a few glorious weeks, you can catch Giselle, Swan Lake and La Bayadere at the Met and New York City Ballet’s more modern fare across the plaza.