TERENCE BLANCHARD

The Metropolitan Opera sold 56% of ticket dollar capacity this season as it returned from a 1 1/2-year absence.

The pianist kicked off his tour and gave funky, experimental character to jazz standards and his own tunes alike.

Soprano Anna Netrebko added to her list of cancellations, withdrawing from a new production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at the Metropolitan Opera that is among seven new stagings the company announced for its 2022-23 season.

Matthew Aucoin’s “Eurydice" opens at the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday night in the first of seven performances running through Dec. 16.

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the #1 Sunday morning news program

“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” became the first work by a Black composer in the 138-year history of the Metropolitan Opera as the company presented its first staged performance since March 2000 following a gap caused by the coronavirus.

Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on the Charles M. Blow memoir of the same title, is the first work by a Black composer to be staged by the Metropolitan Opera.

"Fire," with a score by jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, will be the first opera by a Black musician presented in the Met's 138 years.

The Met Opera’s season opens on Monday, and for the first time in its 138-year history it will perform an opera by a Black composer.

The Metropolitan Opera returned to its home after an 18-month absence caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Opera lovers should be especially happy as the curtain comes down on 2021.

The Metropolitan Opera reached a four-year agreement with the union for its orchestra, the last major deal needed for the company to resume performances following a 1 1/2-year layoff caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Locked out stagehands of the Metropolitan Opera protested the company amid a crowd of about 1,000 that rallied outside Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, criticizing the company for constructing sets for three of next season’s new productions at nonunion shops.

Silenced for 14 months by the pandemic and dealing with labor strife, the Metropolitan Opera will make a brief return Sunday.

The Metropolitan Opera reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists, one of three major labor deals needed for the New York company to resume performances in September.

It’s a rare year when most of the Oscar nomination surprises are good ones, but 2020 was also a rare year for moviegoing and awards campaigns. Here’s our rundown of the snubs and surprises in the 93rd Academy Award nominations. FEMALE DIRECTORS GET THEIR SHOTFor 92 Academy Awards, only 5 women had ever been nominated for best director and never more than one in the same year. This year, the dubious honor goes to Glenn Close for her portrayal of Mamaw in Ron Howard’s adaptation of J.D. Starring Mads Mikkelsen, the film was well received, but seemed like a long shot for the major Oscars categories.

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)NEW YORK – A night after winning the top Grammy Award for songwriting, R&B singer H.E.R. Leslie Odom Jr. will also compete for best original song with “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami...," which he wrote with Sam Ashworth. AdSongs by John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Janelle Monae and Robert Glasper were shortlisted for best original song but didn't make the final cut. The duo of Reznor and Ross have won a number of awards for their scoring work, including an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe. Terence Blanchard (“Da 5 Bloods"), Emile Mosseri (“Minari") and James Newton Howard (“News of the World") round out the best original score nominees.

Met General Manager Peter Gelb said additional losses projected at $54 million raise the total for the company to $154 million since the pandemic started. “The earliest we thought we could schedule it was in the 23-24 season,” Gelb said. “Hamlet” stars Allan Clayton, Brenda Rae and Rod Gilfry in a Neil Armfield staging that opens May 13, 2022. Bart Sher’s staging of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” which opened in Berlin in June 2019, starts Dec. 31, 2021, with Quinn Kelsey. A Simon Stone staging of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” begins April 23, 2022, with Nadine Sierra and Javier Camarena.