Canadian Opera Company Celebrates Financial, Artistic Success of Latest Season

Toronto - Today at the Canadian Opera Company's Annual General Meeting, COC Board Chair Tony Arrell and COC General Director Alexander Neef reported on the financial and artistic successes of the 2014/2015 season. With an acclaimed season of operas, the COC maintained its impressive attendance numbers, recording an average attendance of 92%, as well as retained last year's historic-level of fundraising with contributed revenue totaling $12.6 million and posted a balanced budget, to show a modest surplus of $13,000.

"The COC reported a break-even financial year. This is a gratifying validation of an adjusted business model that we developed over the last three years and implemented for the first time for the 14/15 season," said COC Board Chair Tony Arrell. "We've shifted our operations from a seven- to a six-opera model and empowered the company's high level of production excellence on stage, while maintaining financial flexibility for sustainable long-term planning and optimal program scheduling. These are early but promising signs of stabilization that position the COC well for the future."

The 14/15 season was comprised entirely of COC productions, highlighting the value and stature of the company's artistic output, garnering wide-spread and significant acclaim from both audiences and critics alike. A total of 105,086 patrons attended the 55 performances of the company's six mainstage productions presented last season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Three new productions were added to the company's repertoire, developed in partnership with other premier opera companies: Verdi's Falstaff (co-produced with Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, and Netherlands Opera) featuring an all-Canadian cast with star bass-baritone Gerald Finley as the title character ; Mozart's Don Giovanni (co-produced with Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Bolshoi Theatre, and Teatro Real Madrid) with Canadian baritone Russell Braun in the title role; and, Rossini's The Barber of Seville (co-produced with Houston Grand Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Opera Australia) with young Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins as the barber, Figaro.

Revivals of three classic COC works that have defined the company's reputation for artistic excellence and innovation rounded out the season: Puccini's Madama ButterflywithAmerican sopranos Patricia Racette and Kelly Kaduce sharing the title role; Wagner's Die Walküre starring the incomparable Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde and Johan Reuter as Wotan; and a double-bill of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle starring Canadian bass John Reylea and Russian Ekaterina Gubanova with Schoenberg's Erwartung featuring Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó.

The COC received a record 29 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations in 10 categories for its artists and productions in the 14/15 season, and won eight awards. Falstaff came away with five awards for performances by Gerald Finley and the Ensemble as well as scenic design, costume design and production. Die Walküre took three awards for lighting design and direction as well as the performance by Christine Goerke.

The 14/15 season was also a significant year for the COC in that it saw the company's return after only four years to the prestigious Brooklyn Academy of Music in March 2015 with its acclaimed presentation of Handel's Semele.

"From an artistic perspective, the six-opera season allowed us to focus more carefully on the art itself. The musicianship and stagecraft involved in the 14/15 season was simply outstanding. It's quite clear when you look at the list of our co-producing partners and the calibre of artists that we attract on a regular basis that the COC is becoming a company of international renown and a far-reaching reputation," said COC General Director Alexander Neef. "From an administrative perspective, our return to six operas per season has done what we hoped: we reallocated our resources, consolidated our revenues, looked at our costs and increased the returns from the rest of the operations."

The COC, for the second year in a row, recorded total fundraising revenue of $12.6 million (net) for the 14/15 season. Approximately 80% - $9.8 million - came from individuals in support of the COC's mainstage productions and artists, training programs, and education and outreach programs. Three of the COC's major special events raised 6% of the company's contributed revenues with Centre Stage, the company's annual fundraising gala highlighting the emerging talent of young Canadian opera singers, seeing a 40% increase over the previous year to raise a total of $433,000.

By maximizing the Endowment Incentives component of the Canada Cultural Investment Fund and overall investment growth, significant strides were made in growing the Canadian Opera Foundation's Endowment to $36.5 million. This is an increase of almost $2.7 million over June 30, 2014.

"We are very encouraged by this season's increase in donations to our artists and productions, and educational programs as well as generous gifts to the endowment. They, along with the support of our relatively new annual gala, Centre Stage, are clear indications to us that the company's artistic foundation is of paramount importance to our patrons as well," Neef continued. "Our ticket sales are stabilizing and subscriptions are going up, and we're encouraged by how patrons are responding to the restructured pricing options introduced for the 14/15 season. We're optimistic about this upward trend and intend to continue to build on it. We're currently planning the 2019/2020 season, and our artistic and financial goals are on course for that season and beyond."

In 14/15, the COC recorded a 6.2% increase in the number of season subscribers, due in part to the introduction of value-pricing options. The company also saw significant gains in single ticket revenue, posting a $200,000 increase to $3.4 million for the 14/15 season. All totaled, the COC recorded 63,603 subscription tickets and 38,667 single tickets, generating net-ticket revenue of $9.4 million.

The COC continued its efforts off the mainstage to make opera and the performing arts as accessible as possible. In total 42,657 adults, youths and families engaged with opera in 14/15 through the COC's 19 education and outreach programs.

The COC's Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre also hosted approximately 15,139 people of all ages at its 75 concerts in 14/15. The Free Concert Series' programming spans classical, jazz, world music and dance. Last season featured three world premieres and two Canadian premieres, and showcased 386 artists, of which 95% were Canadian.

The COC's operating expenses for the 14/15 season were $42,246,000 with revenues of $42,259,000. These expenses and revenues are a consolidated presentation of the financial results of the COC and its controlled affiliate, the Canadian Opera House Corporation, a charitable organization that owns and operates the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

The COC's 2015/2016 season began on October 8, 2015, with a new production of Verdi's La Traviata and the world premiere of Barbara Monk Feldman's Pyramus and Thisbe, presented with Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. The season continues in the winter with the return of the COC's production of Wagner's Siegfried and a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. The season concludes in the spring with Bizet's Carmen and Rossini's Maometto II. As with the previous year, 2015/16 is another all-COC season with all six productions owned by the company.