Opera News was founded in 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild with Mrs. John DeWitt Peltz (
Mary Ellis Peltz) serving as the publication's first editor. She was hired by
Eleanor Robson Belmont, who favored the "democratization of opera" and later referred to Peltz as a "gifted walking encyclopedia of opera". When the newsletter was introduced on 7 December 1936, it was a single folded broadsheet. Within a year, it was transformed into a 17-page magazine with advertising; the first magazine appeared on 15 November 1937. Beginning in December 1940, the magazine began to focus much of its content on the weekly
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. At that point,
Opera News offered bi-weekly issues of an expanded size during autumn, winter, and spring, but was on hiatus during summer. As time went on, the magazine began to provide more international coverage, but it still maintained its strong interest in the New York opera scene and the Met in particular. Frank Merkling succeeded Peltz to become second chief editor of
Opera News. His first issue appeared on 14 October 1957. In 1972, the magazine added monthly issues in summer while keeping its bi-weekly schedule during the opera season. In 1974, Robert Jacobson became the magazine's third chief editor. He was succeeded by Patrick O'Connor in 1988, who in turn was succeeded by Patrick J. Smith in 1989. Rudolph S. Rauch was named chief editor in 1998. Under his leadership as well as that of executive editor
Brian Kellow, the magazine switched to a year-round monthly frequency starting in July 1999. F. Paul Driscoll, the final editor in chief, was appointed in July 2003. In the June 2012 issue, the Metropolitan Opera said that
Opera News would cease reviewing Met performances, following dissatisfaction among the Met leadership with the magazine's recent critiques of
Robert Lepage's production of the
Ring Cycle and of the company's direction under
Peter Gelb. However, reactions from the public led to the decision being reversed. In 2023, the
Metropolitan Opera Guild announced that it was facing financial difficulties and had to wind down its operations. This meant ending
Opera News as a stand-alone monthly publication—the last issue was volume 88, number 5, November 2023 ==
Opera News Awards==