An audience member at the Metropolitan Opera sprinkled a powdery substance - what the police said might have been the ashes of his mentor - into the orchestra pit during an intermission of a performance Saturday, setting off a police investigation and causing the cancellation of the rest of that opera and a production that evening. The police said at a news conference Saturday night that they had identified the audience member, a man, through surveillance footage and interviews with witnesses he spoke to before the afternoon performance of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. Twitter / Dylanhayden

John Miller, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner in charge of intelligence and counterterrorism, said several audience members said a man told them he was there to sprinkle the ashes of a friend, his mentor in the opera. Met spokesman Sam Neuman said the afternoon’s performance of “Guillaume Tell” was canceled during the second intermission after the person sprinkled the powder into the pit from the orchestra section. He said the powder will 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 are reaching out to him, Miller said, adding that the man does not live in New York. Miller said the disposal of ashes at an opera house may violate city codes but, “I don’t believe at this point that we see any criminal intent here.”

Met general manager Peter Gelb said, “We appreciate opera lovers coming to the Met. The episode, which unfolded around 4.30pm during the second intermission of the opera at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, prompted the company to cancel the rest of the show and Saturday night’s performance of L’Italiana in Algeri. But at no point did I feel an actual threat.”

Micaela Baranello, a musicologist at Smith College in Massachusetts, said some audience members booed when the cancellation was announced and one man chanted, “I want my money back, I want my money back.”

Neuman said people who had Saturday tickets to either opera should call the Met and make arrangements to see a later performance.
The New York City Metropolitan Opera cancels its Saturday performances as a man, during an afternoon intermission, sprinkled an unidentified powder, suspected to be cremated ashes, into the orchestra pit. One person was exposed and requested medical attention.