The world's biggest opera houses sell tens of millions of dollars of tickets a year—and it's not nearly enough. In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, Elias Leight takes a look at what Peter Gelb, the general manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera, calls opera's "very difficult if not impossible financial model." Running the Met cost roughly $326 million last year; it brought in around $70 million, or 22% of that, from ticket sales. US companies depend heavily on philanthropy to close the gap, while European houses lean on government subsidies; neither model feels especially stable.
Operas are a feat to put on, involving hundreds of employees "from the orchestra to the chorus to the stagehands, along with sets and costumes." As Gelb puts it, "opera is like Broadway musicals on steroids." Those labor costs are high, in part due to unions. "In 2019, the Met said salary and benefits for a full-time stagehand amounted to $260,000 a year," writes Leight. Many houses are trying to boost sales by pulling in younger crowds. Opera Philadelphia recently ditched traditional pricing and tried a pay-what-you-want approach, with tickets starting at $11. The season sold out, and two-thirds of buyers were first-timers. "Short term, I lost money on tickets," says general director Anthony Roth Costanz. "Long term, I'm building a new audience and a new revenue model." Read the full piece.
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