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THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING, LEISURE, ARTS AND REGENERATION - 20 SEPTEMBER 2005

REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR FOR COMMUNITY LEARNING AND ARTS

REVIEW OF , 2005

This report provides a short review of the Opera Holland Park season in 2005.

This should explain the reason for bringing this to the CYPSP, and the FOR INFORMATION basis of any proposals.

1. INTRODUCTION

The programme for 2005 ran for eight weeks and consisted of 47 performances. Six productions ran in repertory, each pair running for two to three weeks:

Macbeth (Verdi) La Sonnambula (Bellini)

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti)

Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Andrea Chenier (Giordano)

2. PRODUCTIONS

2.1 Macbeth appears to have been one of the best productions staged at OHP and critical acclaim was almost universal. Sonnambula continued the “bel canto” thread and was well received by the public, although less so by the media. As with all popular work, Butterfly was not heavily reviewed. It did, however, receive some excellent critical acclaim and was very popular with audiences. L’elisir is also widely accepted to have been on of the best productions staged in recent years, receiving universally good reviews. Onegin was popular with audiences and, although there was not unmitigated praise from the critics, some good reviews 1 were achieved. This was the first opera performed in Russian at OHP. Chenier was very much in the tradition of OHP’s recent successes in the “” repertoire. It received a great deal of attention and praise from the press. A selection of comments by press and public are attached.

2.2 Overall, the season was a great artistic success. Several major opera critics have evidently begun to regard OHP as being in the front rank of summer opera, regardless of their views of individual productions. Indeed, the Observer remarked that only Glyndebourne now surpasses Opera Holland Park.

3. TICKET SALES

3.1 Summary of sales

The total number of tickets sold was 35,229, as against a target of 36,530, and compared with 36,665 tickets sold in 2004. 1 Overall percentage occupancy was 95.5%. There was a 28% increase in the number of full houses. It is estimated that approximately 2,500 to 3,000 more tickets could have been sold through the box office for Butterfly, L’elisir and Onegin had more seats been available.

Production Seats % sold No of No of No of Ave % occ sold 2 scheduled sell out perfs occ perfs perfs under 80% occ Macbeth 5466 84 8 2 0 744 90 Sonnambula 5511 85 8 3 3 715 86 Butterfly 7180 97 9 9 0 822 100 L’elisir 3 5500 96 7 7 0 820 100 Chenier 5185 90 7 3 0 779 94 Onegin 6387 97 8 8 0 822 100 Total 35,229 92 47 32 3 785 95.5 2004 36,665 93 48 25 1 792 96 2003 31,135 82 46 22 1 729 88 2002 30,048 76 48 14 5 689 85

Table 1

4. CUSTOMER ANALYSIS

4.1 New customers

At this stage, Ticket.com’s records are still being analysed. We expect that about 38% of bookings will show as new masterfiles,

1 There was one performance less in 2005 than in 2004. 2 Includes Associates, sponsors’ seats, and seats in the free ticket scheme. 3 Performance cancelled on 7 July. 2 although this does not necessarily mean that all are new customers.

4.2 Audience geography

Kensington and Chelsea residents accounted for 42% of all tickets sold. Of these, the largest number are from W8 followed by W14 and W11.

4.3 Concessions

Concessions are available to over 60s, unemployed people, students, and under 16s for performances on Mondays and Tuesdays and at matinees. Scenario Card holders are entitled to concessions at every performance and account for the largest number of concessions sold by far. As a percentage of all sales, concessions comprised 13.5% .

4.4 Free tickets for young people scheme

Opera Holland Park’s Free Tickets Scheme for Young People in the 2005 season was made possible by donations amounting to £17,000. Eight hundred free tickets in total were available for all 47 performances in the 2005 season. The Scheme aimed to introduce opera to young people and to encourage those who may never have experienced it to give it a try. In total, 250 individual applications and 11 groups applied for around 850 tickets. The demographics of applicants were as follow:

Age Under 12 45% 13 to 15 18% 16 to 18 22% Accompanying adult 25%

Borough Kensington and Chelsea 60% Ealing 18% Harrow 10% Hammersmith and Fulham 8% City of Westminster 4%

Two hundred tickets were allocated to groups, with the remainder taken by individual young people. The groups that attended included looked after children from the Royal Borough, groups from Holland Park, Sion Manning and Cardinal Vaughan schools, youth volunteers with Sixty Plus, and children from one of the Royal Borough’s holiday play centres.

Of those who responded to a post-event questionnaire, 56% said they had never been to the opera before, 98% said they would go again, and 99% said they would recommend it to their friends.

3 5 BOX OFFICE

5.1 In 2005 we finally acquired a new box office system (both software and hardware) and located the server in the central server farm in the Town Hall. This proved, after some initial difficulties with connectivity between the Town Hall and the stable yard, to deliver a significant improvement in reliability.

5.2 The new system provided greater stability, better reporting, faster operation and a higher turnover. We also installed a new telephone system with a call queuing system. Despite this, demand on the first day of booking was unprecedented and for the first two days the call rates were exceptional. It is safe to say that our staff capacity of four was still not sufficient for those first two or three days, although, equally, doubling staff would not have prevented difficulties.

5.3 However, the new system, being more stable, also provided a much more efficient online service and many hundreds of people utilised this in the first few days.

5.4 Internet sales saw a significant increase in 2005 compared with 2004. The number of tickets sold via the internet was 7545, a 27% increase. As a percentage of tickets sold, the figure rose from 16.2% in 2004 to 21.5% in 2005.

6 FINANCIAL SUMMARY

6.1 Summary of income and expenditure 2005

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Original Projected Variation Outturn budget outturn from 2004-5 2005-6 2005-6 budget £ £ £ £ Direct expenditure Infrastructure 245,100 238,096 7,004 (-) 233,485 Running costs 233,850 201,435 32,415 (-) 181,967 Marketing and sales 204,680 181,573 23,107 (-) 149,915

Opera Holland Park 960,000 996,650 36,650 899,634 (production costs) Total 1,643,630 1,617,754 25,876 (-) 1,465,001 direct expenditure

Indirect expenditure Central recharges 20,960 20,960 - 38,034 Departmental recharges 27,430 27,430 - 45,671 Capital financing 8,280 8,280 - 8,148 Total 56,670 1,674,424 25,876 (-) 1,556,854 indirect expenditure

Total expenditure 1,700,300 1,674,424 25,876 (-) 1,556,854

Income Box Office receipts 1,141,100 1,081,781 59,319 1,071,060 (-) (-) (-) Associate packages / 151,200 (-) 83,614 (-) 67,586 128,265 (-) Scenario Cards Hospitality and catering 36,000 (-) 44,056 (-) 8,056 (-) 25,401 (-) Programme sales and 45,000 (-) 39,881 (-) 5,119 40,714 (-) advertising Sponsorship and 127,000 (-) 179,585 (-) 52,585 (-) 112,834 (-) additional income Total income 1,500,300 1,428,917 71,383 1,378,274 (-) (-) (-) Total net costs 200,000 245,507 45,507 178,580

Table 2

6.2 Production costs

6.2.1 The increase in the original 2005 budget from the 2004 outturn is partly accounted for by an increase of £35,000 in the contract for the City of Sinfonia. The increase allowed an additional orchestra rehearsal per production and additional chorus rehearsals, both of which contributed to the improved quality of performances this year.

6.2.2 The variation between the 2005 budget and projected outturn is primarily the result of the last minute departure of the contracted production manager. There were additional costs in finding a replacement. The original production manager had not booked the set building for the first four shows before his departure and new set builders had to be found at short notice, again increasing costs. There were also some short notice replacements of cast members. 5

6.3 Box Office receipts

The performance on 7 July was cancelled as a result of the bombings and disruption to public transport. Patrons were offered the options of transferring to a different performance in 2005 or of a credit for 2006. Refunds were not offered, but a number of patrons insisted on this, and for the sake of customer relations, these were granted in some cases. The costs of the cancelled performance for 2005 are:

Number Cost Transferred to other 2005 215 9,000 performances Received refund 75 2,947 Committed expenditure 3,085 Total cost 15,032

Table 3

A further 385 tickets were transferred to 2006. This has a possible value of approximately £15,400 that will have to be accounted for in the 2006 forecasts. No claim has been made for 151 tickets as yet.

6.4 Associate packages/ Scenario cards

In order to save costs, Associates sales were contracted out to Mark Butler Associates (MBA) for the first time, although the company has had a long history of corporate hospitality at OHP. The total value of Associates sales in 2005 was £55,500, with net income to the Royal Borough after costs and commission of £35,200. This represented a reduction of 27% on the gross value of sales in 2004. A full de-brief session is planned to identify the reasons for this disappointing outcome. Sales to Scenario Card holders were the same as in 2004, 38% of the total, and averaged 12.5 tickets per member. A merger of the Scenario Card scheme with the Friends is scheduled to take place prior to the 2006 season in order to rationalise supporters’ schemes.

6.5 Hospitality and catering

Total income to the Royal Borough from bar, picnics and catering amounts to £40,000,an increase of 81% on 2004. A new caterer, Bovingdons, was appointed, with a strong brief to improve the service provided both to the patrons and to corporate clients. As well as this, we introduced a new champagne bar, sponsored and stocked by Ruinart Champagne. Both were charged a contract fee amounting to £30,000. A mark up on picnic sales was also charged at approximately £9 net per picnic. Picnic sales, particularly considering the moderately high prices, were strong with 1117 6 being sold in total. Two picnic prices we offered: £40 and £55 including Ruinart Champagne. Picnic sales resulted in approximately £10,000 net income for OHP.

6.6 Programme sales and advertising

Magazine sales dipped for the first time in 2005. The price remained the same as in 2004.

6.7 Sponsorship and additional income

6.7.1 A total of £93,885 was generated in sponsorship in 2005 from seven companies.

6.7.2 An additional £72,000 is expected from the Friends of Opera Holland Park and this is included within the projected outturn.

6.7.3 The R.J. Williamson Theatre Company was due to stage a season of Shakespeare performances but pulled out earlier in the year. Income from this season was projected within the original budget as £50,000.

6.7.4 In order to compensate for increased expenditure on production costs, a series of five recitals is planned over the winter. These are expected to generate £12,500 in total, and this is included within the projected outturn.

FOR INFORMATION

KAREN TYERMAN DIRECTOR FOR COMMUNITY LEARNING AND ARTS

Background Papers used in the Preparation of this Report: None

Officer contact: Michael Volpe, Marketing and General Manager Tel: 020 7361 2295. E-mail [email protected]

7 Appendix 1

PRESS AND PUBLIC COMMENTS

Macbeth

“OHP is now a force to be reckoned with. This was by any standards an exceptionally accomplished performance of Verdi’s opera.” Rodney Milnes, Opera

“…the entire musical performance reveals OHP punching above its weight. I don’t recall a better performance at Holland Park than this.” Hugh Canning, Sunday Times

“The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s annual opera season… has moved into a higher gear of late…” Fiona Maddocks, Evening Standard

L’elisir d’amore “Annilese Miskimmon’s staging of Donizetti’s comedy…injects the piece with bags of charm, lots of gags, and she paces the chorus scenes with great skill. There are some excellent performances…” Warwick Thompson, Metro

“Holland Park’s fourth offering of the season is a total triumph.” Tom Vallance, What’s On

Eugene Onegin

“This polished show maintains the progress of Opera Holland Park.” Anthony Holden, The Observer

“Opera Holland Park is approaching the end of another successful season…The last two productions both proved winners…” David Fingleton, Sunday Express

8 Andrea Chenier

“Martin Lloyd Evans’s production for Opera Holland Park…probes its depths with chilling precision…Strong stuff and highly recommended.” Tim Ashley, The Guardian

“With a host of superb cameos and some gutsy conducting from Peter Robinson, it’s absolutely worth seeing.” Warwick Thompson, Metro

“This rousing finale is another coup for Opera Holland Park in a season that has delivered with great charm and professionalism.” Robert Thicknesse, The Times

Full reviews can be seen on the Opera Holland Park website, www.operahollandpark.com

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