It’s not opera, but it is the Met, it is Verdi, it is vocal, and you can hear it, live and in person, for free — with (literally) a bit of luck.

Next month (September 2008), James Levine will conduct the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus in a free performance of Verdi’s Requiem. Soloists Barbara Frittoli, Olga Borodina, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris will join them. The concert is in memory of tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died on 6 September 2007.

In most cities you can expect interest in a free concert, of course. However, this is the Met, and it’s New York. Think of the nightmares their ticket office staff must be having.

In an effort to manage the demand, the Opera is conducting a random drawing. To enter, fill out the form at the Met’s website, or call the Met’s ticket service at 212 362-6000. Website and telephone entries will be accepted between 20 August (Wednesday of this week) and 8:00pm, Wednesday 3 September. You can also submit an entry in person at the Met. They’re not accepting mail or email entries, and they’re enforcing a strict one-per-customer limit.

The concert will take place on Thursday 18 September 18 at 5:00pm at The Met Opera House. If your name isn’t drawn for a ticket, you can at least listen live via streaming audio at the Met’s website.

Last month, violinist Philippe Quint got out of a taxicab in Manhattan - and left his four million dollar Stradivarius violin behind.

You might think, "This is not going to end happily." But it did. The next morning, Quint had his instrument back, and taxi driver Mohammed Khalil had a $100 tip. The city of Newark awarded Khalil a medal for his honesty.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Quint wanted to do something more for his driver. So, on Tuesday (6 May 2008) he gave a concert for Khalil and about 50 of his cabbie friends, at Newark Liberty International Airport, by the taxicab holding area, outdoors.

The drivers danced.

Read more (New York Times website; registration required)