Philadelphia Business Journal, August 2017

Opera Philadelphia's Netflix-like festival selling out, exceeding expectations Aug 25, 2017, 10:34am EDT

ROBERT MILLARD The Magic Flute will take place at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Pictured is a performance on the main stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Music Center during orchestra tech rehearsal.

Opera Philadelphia officials had a theory that opera lovers and novices would respond to an opera-going experience akin to Netflix.

That theory panned out.

The opera company is exceeding the expectations it set for its to-be-annual O festival, which has thus far sold out for multiple performances and reached audiences outside the Philadelphia region and the United States. On Sept. 14-

25, the Opera will hold its O festival, a 12-day festival that will open the opera company's fall seasons.

Called O17 for the inaugural season, the festival acts similarly to an a la carte menu in which guests cherry-pick productions they want to see versus the subscription model, which is falling by the wayside across the United States.

It's a "Netflix-ing of the opera-going experience," General Director and President David B. Devan said, the goal of which was to align Opera Philadelphia with how audiences prefer to consumer art and media.

It's meant to open Opera Philadelphia to a wider audience and attract future donors and philanthropists, and it was a result of sorting through consumer data.New data shows audience members are responding, with multiple soldout performances, according to information given to the Philadelphia Business Journal by Opera Philadelphia.

"What we’re finding is the theory works," Devan said in a recent interview.

"We are finding people are interested in what we are doing," Devan added.

"We're selling at rates faster than we sold before — multiple performances or productions more than we’ve ever done before."

Opera Philadelphia has launched a ticket alert system for those searching for tickets to performances that are unavailable.This is a new implementation, according to spokesman Frank Luzi, who said the opera company doesn't typically sell out shows this far in advance — demonstrating the demand O17 has drummed up.

Through the alert system, guests will get notifications if a new block of tickets becomes available. Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Devan said Opera Philadelphia, for O18 next year, will look to find new ways to increase capacity in venues.

Reaching a wider audience About 30 percent of festival package buyers, or those who purchased two or more festival operas, live more than 70 miles outside of Philadelphia, according to Opera Philadelphia information.

People from as far away as Canada, Brazil, France, Japan, Romania, Switzerland and United Kingdom have so far purchased O17 tickets.

People coming to Philadelphia from outside the region and the country for the multiple-day event is meaningful, since people are staying in the city for more than one day or night, injecting more dollars into the economy.

It also boosts the city's reputation within the opera community.

"That helps with all the efforts of colleagues at Visit Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce to position Philadelphia and the marketplace as a city that people should come and visit, and want to live and move their businesses to," Devan said.

Among the things Devan said he wasn't expecting was people "rooting" for Opera Philadelphia and O17.

"Rooting for people is different from being ecstatic," he said. "If we can honor that fan feeling, then it can be an amazingly fun and rich experience for everybody, which is the point of it."

Opera Philadelphia has consistently increased its total revenue for the past six years, growing 90 percent from 2010 to 2016, according to annual reports.

Contributed income increased 139 percent from 2010 to 2016 — an indication an organization is generating programs that appeal to donors.

Increases in contributed income is significant since this revenue stream for nonprofit organizations has declined since the recession, according to a report by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. This type of income declined by 3.5 percent between 2009 and 2012, offsetting the positive increases in earned income.

Opera Philadelphia in March this year hired Metropolitan Opera veteran Marita Altman to be vice president of development, tasked with managing all of the company's fundraising operations.

O17 performance as of Friday, Aug. 25, according to information given to the Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Each of the six performances of We Shall Not Be Moved at The Wilma Theater and War Stories at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are sold out. 

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A preview performance of War Stories was added on Sept. 14.

The five-night The Wake World at The Barnes Foundation is sold out except for one performance that had about 55 seats left as of Thursday evening.

Elizabeth Cree at the Perelman Theater, at 600 people per performance, and The Magic Flute at the Academy of Music, at 2,200 per performance, are both about 50 percent sold as of Monday, Aug. 21.

Free tickets to Opera on the Mall: The Marriage of Figaro were made available Wednesday morning, and about 5,224 tickets were issued in the first day, breaking the previous record of 4,029 tickets in 2015. Over 6,000 tickets were issued as of Thursday.

About 15,000 festival tickets have been issued so far, and Opera Philadelphia officials anticipate issuing more than 30,000 total tickets to the festival.

Kenneth Hilario Reporter Philadelphia Business Journal