Carnegie Hall’s 1891 Opening Night Ticket

After more than a century, an unexpected piece of ephemera from May 5, 1891 — a ticket from Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night — made its way back to the Hall and into its archival collection in the Rose Museum. This episode travels back to that historic opening concert, and the Gilded Age world of Andrew Carnegie’s New York City, exploring what made Carnegie Hall unlike any other concert hall ever built — and how it remains one of a kind today.

Guests in this episode include Carol Binkowski, author of "Opening Carnegie Hall"; Phillip Lopate, author of books including "Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan"; Emanuel Ax, award-winning pianist who has performed at the Hall more than 120 times over the last 50 years; and Kent Tritle, artistic director of the Oratorio Society of New York, which was featured on Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night and still performs at the hall today. Members of Carnegie Hall’s Rose Museum and Archives team—including director Kathleen Sabogal, assistant director Rob Hudson, and founding archivist Gino Francesconi—are also featured.

If This Hall Could Talk is available wherever you get podcasts. New episodes are released every other week.