http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/nyregion/new-york-today-opera-history-new-york-city.html 2016-10-04 12:54:25 New York Today: An Ode to Opera Tuesday: A brief history of song in the city, a baseball quest, and the “Bronx salad.” === Good morning on this cloudy Tuesday. Life in New York, with its exhilarating highs and weighty lows, can feel operatic. One reason, perhaps, Some of the city’s first performances of these dramatic works, Opera houses began to rise all over the city to meet the growing demand for the art form — though they often fell almost as quickly. New York boasted The Park Theater on Park Row went up in flames in 1848. And the Academy of Music on 14th Street, the social center for wealthy New Yorkers at the time, was — you guessed it — (The culprit, in many cases, was gas lighting, according to John W. Freeman, author of “The Metropolitan Opera.”) Tonight, performers will stage the season premiere of Rossini’s “ Hundreds of hours of practice and work will culminate in eight performances of the opera this season. (Our Perhaps you don’t have three hours to spend watching opera, but still want to experience the opulence of the Met? For the first time, the opera house is offering public tours. Beginning today, you can explore the public areas of the Met for free, on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and watch live rehearsals on a screen in the lobby. Here’s what else is happening: Unfortunately, Mother Nature seems to be slightly off key. She’s giving us another very cloudy performance, with a cooler But wait for the encore: She’ll be belting sunshine and blue skies on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It’ll be so nice you might just want to sing along. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • After last week’s fatal train crash at the Hoboken Terminal, • • • • • • When it comes to leafy greens, New York has been a hotbed of recipes. The Waldorf salad It’s contested, but there’s a good chance the so-called chef’s salad was first tossed in our city as well. Even our fictional concoctions are famous. ( Now, a group of Bronx residents is adding to the mix. The Bronx salad, as it has been called, combines mixed greens, plantain chips, avocado, mango and corn, among other ingredients. The dish is a collaboration between a chef, King Phojanakong, of It’s an attempt to add a wholesome item to menus at restaurants, bodegas and schools in the borough, which was recently found to have the worst health in a Want to try creating a dish at home? Here are New York Today is a weekday roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning. You can For updates throughout the day, What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, Follow the New York Today columnists, You can find the latest New York Today at