May 5, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … As of May 2, Oregon Symphony ticket sales are on pace to exceed $1 million for only the second time in history, said Vice President of Marketing and Community Engagement Michael Kosmala.
“We still have two more Classical concerts left in our season, so of course our total sales figures will increase,” says Vice President of Marketing and Community Engagement Michael Kosmala. “We expect the Mozart Requiem (May 13-15) to sell out and we also have our final concert, Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, which will bring more than 100 musicians to the stage.”
Currently individual ticket sales for the season stand at just about $990,000, said Kosmala, already exceeding last season’s total of $925,968 and making it likely that the $1 million mark will be surpassed. “The only time we’ve ever had more than $1 million in single ticket sales was Music Director Carlos Kalmar’s inaugural season,” he said, “when we sold out several performances of Beethoven’s Ninth and Fifth Symphonies.”
The increases are attributed to several factors. A flex pass option for all concerts from January through May of 2006 attracted new subscribers for the second half of the season, said Kosmala. In addition, the marketing team is devoting more time to messaging and graphics for individual concerts.
“Each concert has its own unique identity and therefore requires a unique strategy,” he said. “We’re getting more creative about selling each individual concert and not using the same formula over and over,” said Kosmala. “The key in our business is to improve single ticket sales; that’s the reason for our success this season.”
“In addition to revenue, I measure our success in part by the percent of the house filled,” Kosmala added. “Regarding the Classical series, it is true that we had a slow start, averaging 62 percent capacity for the first six concerts. However, our capacity for the last ten concerts has increased to 73 percent and I expect this to only go up with our final two concerts.” The increase in Symphony attendance is a direct result of a strategy to reach out to diverse populations that might have a connection with the music.
“The February Gershwin classical concert is an example of this strategy’s success,” he said. The concert coincided with the Portland Jazz Festival. “We put a lot of effort into attracting jazz audiences when we advertised it by emphasizing the heavy jazz influence on the Gershwin and Ravel works and these concerts almost sold out as a result.”
The Pops series has sold over $500,000 in single ticket sales this season, another example of marketing each concert in a unique manner. “The audience for our Mambo Kings concerts included people in their twenties and also many members of Portland’s Hispanic community,” said Kosmala. “We were very proactive in bringing those people into the hall. In general, the Pops series is attracting new audiences, people who haven’t come to the Symphony before.”
