Since becoming the 16^th general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in 2006, Peter Gelb has launched a number of initiatives to revitalize opera and connect it to a wider audience. Under his leadership the Met has recruited many of the world’s greatest theater, film, and opera directors, increased the number of new productions, and launched The Met: Live in HD, the award-winning series of live performance transmissions to movie theaters, which is seen in more than 70 countries. Other Met initiatives under Gelb include a commissioning program for new operas, a 24-hour Met radio channel on SiriusXM, and the online subscription streaming service Met Opera on Demand. With the opera house closed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Gelb has launched an enormously popular series of free nightly Live in HD encore streams on the Met website to keep audiences engaged with the company, as well as a successful pay-per-view concert series featuring some of opera’s greatest artists.

Gelb began his career at 17 as an office boy for the impresario Sol Hurok. He became an assistant manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was Vladimir Horowitz’s manager during the pianist’s career revival in the 1980s. Gelb served as President of CAMI Video until 1992 and was President of the Sony Classical record label before coming to the Met. His honors include multiple Emmy, Grammy, and Peabody Awards, the Sanford Prize from the Yale School of Music, and France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur.