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Powder at New York opera possibly human ashes

A powdery substance a man sprinkled into the orchestra pit at New York's Metropolitan Opera may have been an opera lover's ashes, police say.

The freakish incident during an afternoon performance of Rossini's Guillaume Tell forced Met officials to cancel the rest of the show as well as an evening performance of a second opera.

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John Miller, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner, said several audience members said a man told them he was there to sprinkle the ashes of a friend, his mentor in the opera.

Miller said the man was in front of the first row of seats when he sprinkled the powder into the orchestra pit during the second intermission when most of the musicians were not present.

Police at New York's Metropolitan Opera, which halted a performance after someone sprinkled an unknown powder into the ...
Police at New York's Metropolitan Opera, which halted a performance after someone sprinkled an unknown powder into the orchestra pit. Photo: AP

He said the powder would be tested, but the possibility that it was in fact human ashes "is certainly an area that we are pursuing".

Police know who the man is and say he is being sought.

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Miller said the disposal of ashes at an opera house may violate New York but police don't see "any criminal intent".

Met general manager Peter Gelb said: "We appreciate opera lovers coming to the Met. We hope that they will not bring their ashes with them."

Royal Opera performers in Guillaume Tell.
Royal Opera performers in Guillaume Tell. Photo: Clive Barda

Police initially said one person at the opera house requested medical attention but Miller said no one was injured.

The Met cancelled Saturday night's performance of L'Italiana in Algeri, another Rossini opera, because of the investigation.

The front of the Metropolitan Opera house at New York's Lincoln Center.
The front of the Metropolitan Opera house at New York's Lincoln Center. Photo: John Minchillo

A Met representative at first announced that a technical issue was causing the delay, then returned a few minutes later to announce that the fourth act would not be performed. The audience was told to go home.

"Everybody kind of slowly walked out," said Dylan Hayden of Toronto. 

"As we were exiting the building, I noticed the counter-terrorism unit going into the building."

Hayden, who was seated in the 11th row back, added: "The idea that they said that it was a technical error, when I was maybe 15 feet away from a potential dangerous substance, that kind of irks me a little bit. But at no point did I feel an actual threat."

AP