Just in: ENO slashes deficit, boosts first-time attenders
mainThe annual report and financial statement for English National Opera for year ended 31 March 2011, just landed, contains two pleasant surprises.
The annual deficit has been cut to £55,000 – still a worry, but nothing like last year’s £160,000 – and fully 53% of the audience were first-time opera goers.
New work and new media seem to be doing the trick. This video about Nico Muhly’s Two Boys has scored 1.4 million views on Youtube.
So how’s your boring old opera house doing?
It’s great that ENO’s bringing new people to opera, but I wonder if there is an optimal percentage of first-timers and if there is, that it would not be more than 50. Isn’t it more important to know the number of 2nd-timers? People that see more than one opera are probably likely to see 10, but there’s no way at all of telling the turnover from 1st-time opera-goers.
Perhaps I’m being naive. Do any other readers have any thoughts on the generalities of this topic that don’t involve specific criticisms of the administration in London opera houses?