metropolitanoperacompany

Rosa Ponselle (January 22, 1897 – May 25, 1981), was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Ponselle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheepshead_Bay_Race_Track en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aida

Conductor Nahan Franko (1861-1930) in background.  Franko was Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (1883 to 1907).  A violinist, Nahan made his debut at age 8 at Steinway Hall in New York City and then toured with Adelina Patti as a child prodigy. [1]

Thank you for identifying the conductor; we will add it to the record!

Her wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Kurt

A NEW GERMAN SOPRANO Mme. Melanie Kurt Appears at the Metropolitan Opera in "Tristan" The Metropolitan Opera House has acquired a remarkably fine artist in Mme. Melanie Kurt, the German dramatic soprano, who made her first appearance here last evening in a performance of "Tristan and Isolde". — The New York Times, February 2, 1915   Melanie Kurt (1880–1941) was an Austrian opera singer (soprano). She first studied to become a pianist in her native City of Vienna before starting to take singing lessons. From 1897 to 1900 she only appeared as a pianist. Later she went to Berlin, and London where she studied and performed with renowned opera singers. In 1914 she was at the peak of her career when she joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where she succeeded Olive Fremstad as the company's leading Wagner soprano for three years. When America entered World War I in 1917, Wagner operas were banned as being too German. Torn by the war, Kurt remained in the US until 1919 before returning to Germany. — Excerpted from Wikipedia.

As identified by B-59 and Art Siegel in other photos (below), John Brown [1881 -1967] was born in Scotland and came to America at the age of 2. He attended public schools in Brooklyn and had a series of jobs that led him to the staff of the Metropolitan Opera Company, where he was the business controller from 1910-1916.

In addition to his position with the opera company, he was Assistant Secretary of the New Theatre, Assistant Secretary of the Metropolitan Opera Company, President and business manager of the Metropolitan Ballet Company and Secretary-Treasurer of the Century Amusement Company.

He resigned simultaneously from all of those offices in 1916, and went into partnership with Alphonse G. Kaufmann of the Peugeot Auto Import Company in New York.

Later he was the eastern representative for the Chicago Opera Company and managed concert artists, and was business manager of the American Operatic and Allied Arts Foundation. In 1925, he was appointed business manager of Carnegie Hall, where he served until 1929. – Compiled from The New York Times and Carnegie Hall [1] [2] [3] [4]

John Brown and SergeJohn Brown c.1910R. Edmunds, Serge Diaghileff and John BrownEnrico Caruso and John BrownJohn Brown c.1910

Thanks Pixel Wrangler for the information on John Brown. We will add more details to the descriptions for these images.