What we CAN know
We don't have hard data on classical music ticket sales. But it's not hard to tell where the wind's blowing.
Here’s my third and last post (for now) on classical music ticket sales. While I work on the release of my string quartet recording.
We don’t have stats on ticket sales (see my last two posts), by which I mean comprehensive year by year numbers, going back a few decades.
So, though people say there’s a decline in ticket sales, we don’t really know that, and, most important, don’t know how big the decline might be. Whether it’s crisis level, or not.
Pause for the shock — or at least my shock — at how immature the classical music field is, not making this data available, and to a large extent not having it at all.
But there are some things I do know. Ticket sales can’t be falling without leaving some trace, and over the years I’ve picked up signs of what looks like a long and large decline:
In 1970, the five biggest U.S. orchestras had nearly full concert halls, selling nearly 100% of their tickets. They’re nowhere near that now, as I’m sure everyone who goes to concerts sees. A NY Times story two years ago — giving us, as usual on this subject, only fragmentary info — mentioned pre-pandemic sales at two orchestras, which were in the 65-85% range. (More on sources for all of this, at the end of the post.)
In the mid-2000s I was shown a secret document — year by year ticket sales, going back 10 years, for the core classical concerts at the 10 biggest U.S. orchestras. The sales had gone sharply downward.
In the 1980s, there were at least 20 soloists who could sell out a concert hall. 15 years ago, there were only five, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, and Renee Fleming. The simplest explanation? Fewer people going to concerts, so only the top-selling artists sell out.
In the 1980s, the Met Opera sold 92% of its tickets. Sales were 72% in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
In 2011, the Chicago Lyric Opera sold 103% of their seats. More than 100%, because if subscribers couldn’t come to a performance, the company resold their tickets. There’s been a big fall in sales since then, and besides selling fewer tickets each night, the company gives fewer performances.
In the 2000s I facilitated a discussion among a dozen or so chamber music presenters in New England. All but one were dismayed by low ticket sales.
I’ve had two consulting clients, notable classical music institutions in major cities, where ticket sales had been falling for years. Not much each year, but, over time, the declines added up.
In 2014, the Santa Fe Opera was thought to be doing very well, because they had the smallest ticket decline of any U.S. opera company.
Fragmentary data? Of course. But would it be there if, behind it, sales weren’t falling overall?
Sources:
Big orchestra ticket sales. The 1970 data comes from a consultant’s report I got from the New York Philharmonic archives. Current data is here.
Secret document. Shown to me over dinner by someone in a position to have it. And who — because this was so sensitive — wouldn’t give me a copy, or even let me write down the numbers.
Soloists. From my wife Anne Midgette’s reporting in the Washington Post. A tasty quote from the head of a major festival: “When I do presentations for my board, I always show them that list of 1985 stars [who could sell out a house] and then [the current] five, and people gasp.”
Met Opera. The early data came from the Met’s then-marketing director, when we talked in his office. Current Met ticket sales are here.
Santa Fe Opera: Again from Anne’s reporting in the Post.