Herman Krawitz, 1925–2025

The Metropolitan Opera mourns the death of Herman Krawitz, former Assistant Manager under General Manager Rudolf Bing.

Of his many accomplishments, Krawitz’s planning and oversight of the construction and move to the Met’s new opera house at Lincoln Center remains his greatest legacy. First hired in 1953 as a consultant to analyze the Met’s complex backstage activity, he joined the management team in 1954 as Administrator of Stage Departments. Under his leadership, the Met set up permanent workshops to produce all the company’s sets and costumes, which had previously been contracted out. When Krawitz became the Business and Technical Administrator in 1958, he assumed the herculean tasks of coming up with a list of requirements for the new opera house and coordinating with architects, contractors, artists, and others as the venue was built. He was named Assistant Manager in 1963, a position he retained until 1972, when Bing retired. In his autobiography, Bing paid tribute to the “extraordinarily good relations” fostered backstage by Krawitz’s “tone of camaraderie.”

We offer our sincere condolences to Krawitz’s sons, Josh and David, and their families and salute our old friend for his extraordinary achievements in the service of our company.

Herman Krawitz (far right) at the acoustic test for the Met’s new opera house at Lincoln Center, alongside (right to left) Paul Jaretzki, Richard Tucker, Franco Corelli, and Francis Robinson