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Creator
Metropolitan Opera (New York, N.Y.)
Call number
*MGZMD 564
Physical description
1.5 linear feet (4 boxes)
Language
Multiple languages; Materials are primarily in English. Some clippings are in Hebrew, German, Russian, Spanish, French, and Polish.
Preferred Citation
Metropolitan Opera dance press materials, *MGZMD 564. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The Metropolitan Opera House (the Met), located at Lincoln Center in New York City, hosts American Ballet Theatre's (ABT) regular season and presents international dance companies. The Met's dance press materials, compiled by Mark Goldstaub Press Relations, date from 1979 to 1992, and contain press-related documents and ephemera reporting on various international dance companies and ABT's performances at the opera house.

Biographical/historical information

The Metropolitan Opera, founded in 1883, is the most renowned opera company in the United States and one of the most well-known companies in the world. The opera company's initial opera house was constructed at Broadway and 39th Street in New York City in 1883. The current Metropolitan Opera House (the Met) opened at Lincoln Center in 1966.

In addition to being the residency of the Metropolitan Opera Company, the Met hosts American Ballet Theatre's (ABT) seasons and regularly presents touring international dance companies, such as the National Ballet of Canada, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal Spanish National Ballet, and Grand Kabuki. In 1986, the Met hosted a gala benefit performance for ABT, the Paris Opera Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera Association. Rudolf Nureyev, then director of the Paris Opera Ballet, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, then artistic director of ABT, choreographed and performed the ballets alongside their companies for the gala.

Mark Goldstaub (1951-1988) was the founder and president of Mark Goldstaub Public Relations. His public relations agency represented performing arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera House, the Paris Opera Ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada.

Scope and arrangement

The Metropolitan Opera dance press materials (1979-1992) consist of press-related items mostly about the international ballet companies that performed at the Met. Various press agents and administrative assistants from Mark Goldstaub Public Relations compiled the materials. The collection holds periodical clippings, correspondence, essay drafts, photographs, flyers, programs, press kits, and information packets.

The bulk of the materials pertain to the Paris Opera Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Bolshoi Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. The press agency retained programs as well as original and photocopied promotional and review press clippings about performances at the Met, in other cities in the United States, and the 1986 Met Gala benefit performance. The collection features a draft and final copy of Rudolf Nureyev's essay "My Manhattan," written in 1988. Other international dance companies in the collection include the Royal Spanish National Ballet, Grand Kabuki, and Royal Danish Ballet. Of note are promotional press kits and press releases about Baryshnikov and Nureyev's work for the 1986 Met Gala benefit performance.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically and grouped roughly by dance company or event. Mark Goldstaub Public Relations worked for the Met and various international dance companies. It is unknown whether the agency compiled the collection's items for the Met or the dance companies.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by the Metropolitan Opera at an unknown date.

Processing information

Processed by Amy Lau in 2023.

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor