Orchestra looks beyond pandemic
VANCOUVER — By last March, about $7 million in ticket sales evaporated for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Eventually, the orchestra had to cancel an entire season of 150 live concerts because of COVID-19.
At the time, the orchestra was near the end of a series of performances marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the great German composer and pianist.
So, the VSO took a chance and decided to hold its first live-stream concert in 102 years, said Angela Elster, CEO and president of the orchestra and VSO School of Music.
When the concert that included Beethoven’s Symphony Number 6 Pastorale was viewed by more than 150,000 people, Elster took it as a sign.
“That gave us the courage to go digital,” she said.
The organization’s strategic plan had been to reach 500,000 people online within five years. Because of the pandemic, the VSO was able to reach its goal last year, Elster said.
More than 3,500 households have purchased $12.99 monthly subscriptions at TheConcertHall.ca. Viewership is estimated at 10,000 across Canada as well as in the U.S. and Europe. This year, the VSO is expected to perform 40 virtual concerts.
“This is not a business model we intended, but it is a business model we have imagined and created,” she said.
Elster said the VSO has many loyal audience members who have been subscribers in some cases for decades.
“We’ve heard very positive feedback from members of the audience,” she said. “They really appreciated at this time of isolation in their homes that they have access to the VSO.”
In 2019 before the pandemic, the VSO had an operating budget of $17.6 million, of which 38 per cent was from ticket sales and earned revenue, 29 per cent from private-sector fundraising and lotteries, 28 per cent from all three levels of government, and five per cent from its endowment.
Since last March, the drop in ticket sales has contributed to an overall revenue loss of about $9 million for the VSO.