Since 2006, Peter Gelb—son of Arthur Gelb, the former New York Times culture editor—has overseen one of the world’s largest and most influential performing arts institutions as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. In that time, Mr. Gelb has modernized the Met’s stuffy repertory, hiring Broadway directors and updating old productions. As the former president of Sony Classical, Mr. Gelb recorded the Titanic soundtrack, which raised a few eyebrows when he came to the Met, and he has won six Emmy Awards for television production and one Grammy. In 2010, Mr. Gelb was named an Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the cultural minister of France and, more recently, won the annual Diplomacy Award of the Foreign Policy Association. Traditionalists may scoff at Mr. Gelb’s approach, but it’s impossible to deny that he has attracted younger audiences and helped to enliven the seemingly moribund world of opera in New York.