By Anthony Tommasini [NY Times, 21 September 2005]

The Metropolitan Opera opened its season on Monday night, which meant a traditional gala evening of people-watching, celebrity-spotting (Sean Connery was unmistakable in the general manager's box) and, for patrons who paid the top ticket price of $1,000, a postperformance dinner on the grand tier. Oh, and there was also opera, of course, a sampling of the season to come, with performances of Act I of Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro," Act II of Puccini's "Tosca" and Act III of Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila," all conducted by the Met's music director, James Levine.