The Vienna State Opera has just published its annual report. The results will be read with keen interest at the Met, where some nights they are struggling to break 30 percent.
Here’s a summary:
In the 2014/15 season, a total of 361 performances was watched by 598,951 visitors. The 284 performances on the main stage of the Wiener Staatsoper achieved an average attendance of 99.02% of seating capacity.
The season included eleven premieres (opera, ballet, children’s opera) and 63 different works as well as four tours.
Total expenditure was €111.67m, of which state subsidy contributed €59.48m. Ticket revenues hit a record €34.
Interim result for the 2015/2016 season, so far:
As of February 24th, 2016, average attendance in the main house (opera, ballet, children’s opera, recitals) amounts to 98.6% (99.06% for opera). Ticket sales have yielded 19,847,770,41 €, which is 449.385,82 € more than by the same date last year. The average revenue per performance is 119.564,88 €.
Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse 2014/2015
In der Saison 2014/2015 wurden insgesamt 361 Vorstellungen gespielt, die von 598.951 Besucherinnen und Besuchern gesehen wurden. Bei den 284 Vorstellungen auf der Hauptbühne der Wiener Staatsoper wurde eine
Sitzplatzauslastung von 99,02 % erreicht. Elf Premieren (Oper, Ballett, Kinderoper) und 63 verschiedene Werke sowie vier Gastspiele (Oper und Ballett) wurden auf- beziehungsweise durchgeführt.
Der Umsatz betrug 41,84 Mio. €, die aktivierten Eigenleistungen 0,69 Mio. €, sonstige betriebliche Erträge beliefen sich auf 66,79 Mio. € und das Finanzergebnis auf 1,77 Mio. €. Ausgabenseitig fielen Personalkosten in Höhe von 78,20 Mio. €, Materialaufwendungen von 1,26 Mio. € und sonstige betriebliche Aufwendungen von 22,29 Mio. € an. Die Abschreibungen beliefen sich auf 9,98 Mio. €. Daraus resultiert ein Ergebnis der gewöhnlichen Geschäftstätigkeit von -578.588 €, was unter Zurechnung des Gewinnvortrages von 580.551 € zu einem Bilanzgewinn von 1.963 € führt.
Die Gesamtausgaben 2014/2015 betrugen 111,67 Mio. €, die Subvention durch die Republik Österreich 59,48 Mio. €. Durch eine Ergebnisverbesserung konnte das bewilligte Budget um 2,0 Mio. € unterschritten werden. Durch den Kartenverkauf konnte ein Einnahmenrekord von 34,08 Mio. € erzielt werden. Der Eigendeckungsgrad belief sich auf 44,6 %.
Zwischenbilanz 2015/2016
Zum 24. Februar 2016 beträgt die Sitzplatzauslastung (Oper, Ballett,
Kinderoper, Solistenkonzerte) im Großen Haus 98,6% (nur Oper: 99,06%).
Bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt konnten Einnahmen aus dem Kartenverkauf in Höhe
von 19.847.770,41 € erzielt werden, das sind 449.385,82 € mehr im
Vergleich zum Vorjahresstichtag. Die durchschnittlichen Einnahmen pro
Vorstellung belaufen sich auf 119.564,88 € (24. Februar 2015: 117.565,97
€).
Äußerst positiv ist auch die Entwicklung in der neuen Spielstätte
Studio Walfischgasse, wo sich die Kinderopernvorstellungen und
Sonderveranstaltungen quer durch die Generationen großer Beliebtheit
erfreuen: Hier konnten Einnahmen von 46.667,73 € (24. Februar 2015 im
Kinderopernzelt: 30.050,00 €) bei 44 Vorstellungen (Kinderoper und
Sonderveranstaltungen) erzielt werden. Insgesamt wurden bisher im Studio
Walfischgase 6.190 Karten ausgegeben (im Vergleichszeitraum 2014/2015 im
Kinderopernzelt: 4.511 Karten).
Erfreulich entwickelt sich auch das Livestreaming-Programm WIENER
STAATSOPER live at home. Seit Einführung des neuen Abosystems mit
attraktiven Preisen im Dezember 2015 haben sich 430 Kunden für ein
Monats- oder Jahresabonnement entschieden. Darüber hinaus wurden 190
Smart-Abos und seit Jänner 2016 zudem etwa 1.000 Einzeltickets verkauft.
So konnte auch die Zuschauerzahl auf aktuell fast 500 pro Übertragung
gesteigert werden * die meisten Buchungen im Jänner verzeichnete der
starbesetzte Rigoletto mit 1.200. Seit ihrem Launch bei Amazon Fire TV
vor wenigen Wochen haben bereits 10.000 Zuseher die Wiener Staatsoper
Live-App installiert, von 1.000 Downloads auf dem neuen Apple TV haben
sich schon 150 Kunden zu Abos entschlossen.
Dear wonderful, beloved, unforgettable maestro Eri Klas,
I cannot write this in any other form than addressing it directly to you, since it will take me a long while in order to really understand that you are no longer with us. The void you left behind is immense. It will not, cannot, be filled again. You were a dear and close friend of our family over 4 generations, starting with my great grandmother Jenny Siimon, and you have been a musical partner with all of us. I was only 4 years old when I first met you, on Christmas eve, and I even remember singing some carols for you, (probably a pain to listen to,).
There are so many things I wanted to thank you for, your ability to make people feel welcome, and “under your wing” when playing with you, your instant youthfulness on the podium, your quick wit, humour, and most of all love towards music. I will forever cherish the memory of playing Mozart Violin Concerto in G-Major with you, for the New Years Eve 2010 concerts in Tallinn and Tartu, as well as the tour to St. Petersburgh, because no matter how tired or sleepless we started to be, you always were reborn the very second you stood onto the podium, radiating your immortal youthful energy into all of our souls, immediately.
I miss you. We will all miss you. With my undying love,
Anna-Liisa Bezrodny
Violinist
We regret to report the death, early today, of Eri Klas, one of the best known conductors around the Baltic region and an influential teacher at the Sibelius Academy and Estonian Academy.
Eri, born in Talinn in 1939, had been music director of the Estonian National Opera (1975-95), of the Royal Opera in Stockholm (1985-90) and of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1996-2003.
He made his US debut in 1991 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, followed by appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Boston, Minnesota, San Francisco and many more.
He gave the world premiere of two major works by Alfred Schnittke, Peer Gynt and the 1st cello concerto.
Not many know: he started out as a barbershop singer.
Prince Charles has agreed to be Patron of this year’s Menuhin Competition.
As you were.
press release:
The Menuhin Competition London 2016 is delighted to announce that The Prince Of Waleshas agreed to be the Patron of the world’s leading Competition for young violinists.
The Prince knew Yehudi Menuhin well, so it is fitting that in the year that the Competition celebrates Menuhin’s Centenary, that His Royal Highness is supporting it. In April, theMenuhin Competition returns to the UK and host city of London.
The Competition attracts exceptional young violinists from across the globe, filling London with world class music during the 11-day Festival, celebrating all things Menuhin.
The Prince of Wales is a keen supporter of the arts and actually used to play the cello himself.His Royal Highness said: “As a friend and admirer of Lord Menuhin, I wanted to send my warmest good wishes to all the gifted young competitors taking part in the Menuhin Competition London 2016 and hope that lifelong friendships will be forged with fellow musicians from around the world. The Menuhin Competition provides tremendous opportunities for the competitors to perform, to learn from one another, to receive the guidance of the jury and to give masterclasses in schools and the community through the outreach programme. This combination is what makes the event so very special.”
The Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury is stepping in last minute to sing the title role in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at Seattle Opera after Serena Farnocchia fell sick.
The opening night is February 27 and it will be Joyce’s role debut.
Trouble is, she was already down to sing the matinee on February 28. Problem?
No problem. We hear she’ll sing both.
The new leader of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchesatra cellos emerged from auditions this week.
She is Hee-Young Lim, 28, a finalist at the last Tchaikovsky Competition.
Boulez was a man of many parts. From my current essay in Standpoint magazine:
Pierre Boulez is showing me around his subterranean Ircam labyrinth beside the Pompidou Centre when we come to a locked door marked “private”. “What’s in there?” I ask.
“I can’t tell you,” says the boss, his voice dropping to a whisper.
Ircam, the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique, was the ransom a president paid to bring Boulez home from self-imposed exile. “President Pompidou asked me outright: would you come back to France? I said: if I return it will not be to conduct an orchestra when I have better opportunities abroad. For the idea of Ircam, though, I would leave everything.”
On the phone to the Elysée, he described an idyll where scientists and composers would work with computers to invent music of the future. Without further detail, Pompidou signed on to the vision, and the cheque.
Was there more here than met my ear? That day, deep beneath the Paris pavements, Boulez whispered that behind the locked door his technical team was developing acoustic warfare devices for the French navy. I asked him to repeat that secret, to make sure I had understood him correctly. He did. I wasn’t sure whether to gulp or to giggle.
Beside me was a leader of the musical avant-garde, a man so dangerous that mothers threatened infants with a blast of Boulez if they didn’t eat their soup, a composer of idées fixes and doctrinaire ideology who, by some twist of French logic, was apparently applying his brain to making weapons for a navy whose only current war was against Greenpeace nuclear saboteurs.
They will start by selling 4,000 by auction onJune 19 at the Maison de la Radio.
Among the stock are some rare early electronic music releases.
Pierpaolo Polzonetti, the professor who provoked a musicology war by writing about teaching in prisons, has contacted Slipped Disc to clarify his position.
He writes:
I am grateful for the support I received on slippedisc.com. I am also concerned that this debate, on this site, has turned into a critique of musicology. The accusations against my blog are in part related to how we write and how we read. It is a risky enterprise and it is easy to make rhetorical mistakes, as I did. What is disturbing, in a few cases of people who attacked me most vehemently, is that we see clear signs of a degeneration of PC language practices affecting every discipline in the humanities and social sciences. The risk of deploying PC language irresponsibly is to devise a new technology of power through the control of heavily policed language. It appears to combat institutionalized racism, but it perpetuates a culture of apartheid by forcing incommunicability. The people called me a racist silenced the voice of my African American student.
The Bavarian state orchestra is going on a Europe-wide tour in September with its music director Kirill Petrenko, incoming chief of the Berlin Philharmonic.
The tour will take in Milan, Lucerne, Dortmund, Bonn, Paris, Luxembourg, Berlin, Vienna and Frankfurt.
Aleksandar Marković, outgoing music director of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, has been appointed music director in Leeds, in succession to Richard Farnes.
Marković, 40, will open in September with Rosenkavalier.
He says: ‘I can honestly say that when I first worked with Opera North it felt like love at first sight, and ever since my admiration and affection for the company has continued to grow and grow.
‘For me Opera North’s trademarks include the highest standards in performance, exceptional creative focus in rehearsals, and a unique, warm, and supportive working atmosphere. The motivated and talented orchestra, soloists and chorus reach for new heights every single time they perform, bringing enormous pleasure to their appreciative audiences.
‘Opera North is exactly where I want to be right now and I am very excited by the prospect of working with them much more closely. This a brilliant new chapter in my life and a bright challenge to which I commit myself fully.’
This year’s Hindemith Award (10,000 Euros) goes to Christoph Eschenbach.
