The Metropolitan Opera is cutting ticket prices by an average of about 10 per cent next season, when music director James Levine returns from a spine injury that led to a two-year absence.

In the company’s first season without Richard Wagner operas since anti-German sentiment in 1918-19 caused by World War I, the Met will present six new-to-New York productions, the fewest since Peter Gelb’s first season as general manager in 2006-07.

The 69-year-old Levine has been the company’s leading force for four decades in various roles.

He’s had three spinal operations since his last performance in May 2011.