At the tender age of 23, he had won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the most prestigious young artist competition in the industry. Young, with a mighty voice and a mane of dark hair, Díaz was soaring on the crest of a meteoric career. And then there was Lady Bird Johnson, the president’s wife, side by side in her fur stole with Philippine autocrat Ferdinand Marcos and his pearl-studded spouse Imelda.įor the next two hours, all of their eyes would be locked on the same stage, where a 26-year-old bass-baritone was about to take the spotlight: Puerto Rican performer Justino Díaz.
There were vice chancellors from West Germany and architects from Palm Beach. There were ambassadors from some of America’s most prominent families: Rockefellers, Fords, and Kennedys. And the red carpet outside the theater was packed with dignitaries arriving to inaugurate the occasion with a new opera: the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra.
The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center was about to open for the first time.
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