Affordable Opera Tickets There and Here

Some seats are less expensive than others

An age-old conondrum: Opera is the most expensive of all performing arts, but it's essential to allow (and encourage) audiences from all economic strata. The Met has updated and streamlined its $25 tickets program by moving it onto the web this season, rather than having patrons physically wait in line for a chance at seats.

The tickets, known as rush tickets, will be distributed by a lottery system. Buyers will be able to enter on the Met’s website the evening before a performance, and winners will get an email at noon on the day of the performance offering them the chance to buy two tickets for $25 each. The company said that there would be a minimum of 100 tickets available for each regular performance.

The tickets are among the great bargains in New York: the average ticket price at the Met this coming season will be $160.

San Francisco Opera, where orchestra and box seats now often go beyond $300, has a good mix of programs to make attendance affordable, especially for students, seniors, and military with ID:

First and foremost, there are the $10 standing-room tickets for anybody, good on the main floor and on the top of the second balcony, where acoustics are the best. Yes, it means standing, and don't I know what it entails, but let's hope arthritis is not yet universal.

Just as at the Met, SFO has its rush tickets, in larger numbers than the New York company.

The Opera Guild's educational programs include backstage tours and special performances for students.

Bravo Tix: with a $60 annual membership to Bravo!Club, you can buy $52 orchestra tickets and $37 dress circle tickets to many performances.