The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is regarded as one of the world’s finest orchestras. Since the Met’s inception in 1883, it has worked with leading conductors in both opera and concert performances, and has developed into an orchestra of enormous technical polish and style. The musicians maintain a demanding schedule of performances and rehearsals during the 33-week Lincoln Center season, with as many as seven performances per week in repertory that this season encompasses 18 operas. In addition to its opera schedule, the orchestra has a distinguished history of concert performances, including an annual series at Carnegie Hall.

The history of the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble goes back to 1998, when then–Music Director James Levine organized the group’s first performance at Carnegie Hall in an effort to showcase the artistry and virtuosity of the orchestra members, and to create an opportunity for the musicians to perform more intimate repertoire. The chamber ensemble gave performances until 2016, when the concerts were discontinued.

In 2021, the group returned in a new initiative of the Met, with an artistic committee of orchestra members planning its repertoire in collaboration with Met administration and music staff. All orchestra members have the opportunity to participate in the series, and the programs often feature guest singers from the Met’s roster. This season, the chamber ensemble presents six performances in Weill Recital Hall.

Visit metorchestramusicians.org to read bios for individual orchestra members.

A member of the Met’s music staff since 2001, Maestro J. David Jackson made his debut on the company’s podium in 2008 leading Hansel and Gretel. In the years since, he has returned to conduct performances of Porgy and Bess, Simon Boccanegra, and The Queen of Spades. He has also led Weber’s Euryanthe at the Glyndebourne Festival, War and Peace at the Canadian Opera Company, Mark Adamo’s Little Women in Bruges, Faust in Genoa, Der Freischütz in Bangkok, Elektra in Istanbul, L’Italiana in Algeri at Wolf Trap Opera, Simon Boccanegra and La Fanciulla del West at Kentucky Opera, Massenet’s Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame at Central City Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Opera Omaha, Cendrillon and The Turn of the Screw at the Siena Summer Festival, and Boris Godunov, Khovanshchina, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and Don Pasquale in Brussels. He conducted the world premiere of Kamran Ince’s Judgment of Midas in January 2011 and has also led concerts with the Czech Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and Slovenian National Orchestra.

His compositions include Model Love for singers, chamber orchestra, and rock band; Stones of Love for singers and chamber orchestra; Magnificat for chorus; and the song cycle Water: The Bearer of Love; as well as a violin fantasy, sonata for cello and piano, and violin concerto. He has recorded Garrett List’s Trees with the National Orchestra of Belgium and Bent Lorentzen’s Die Musik kommt mir äusserst bekannt vor! for Danish National Radio. His 2000 recording of Act II of Lewis Spratlan’s Life Is a Dream earned the Pulitzer Prize for Music.