Chicago Symphony Orchestra Reaches
New Attendance Record for 105th Season
With the theme Daniel Barenboim and the CSO: A 25-year collaboration. the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra ended its 105th year with a new record in audience
attendance. 289.562 ticket holders representing 99.32% of the capacity of
Orchestra Hall attended the 112 CSO subscription concerts this season. This
broke the previous ticket record of 285.623 attendees of the 1992-1993 season.
which celebrated Sir Georg Solti's 80th birthday. The last seven concerts
this season were held at Medinah Temple.
"What is particularly gratifying in seeing this record set," said
Henry Fogel. President of the CSO, is it once again shows overwhelmingly
the support for our music director and our Orchestra by the serious music
lovers of Chicago. This year. along with our more popular programming. we
offered a number of adventuresome and challenging concerts. Our audiences
trusted that they would discover exciting new music and attendance figures
demonstrate they weren't disappointed." Fogel added that the Orchestra
was awarded First Place in The American Symphony Orchestra League/American
Society of Composers and Performers (ASCAP) 1996 Award for Programming of
Contemporary Music.
In addition to overall attendance being at an all-time high. a number of
other records were reached during the CSO's subscription season, reported
Fogel. Daniel Barenboim's concert on January 6. 1996 reached 106.3% of capacity
as a result of resales and rush tickets.
Also, revenue jumped 8.9% over last year to reach a new milestone of$14,161,000.
Fogel also cited that compared to the other major American orchestras, the
CSO is among the lowest in advertising and marketing expenses as a percentage
of budget.
The most recent industry statistics indicate that among the top ten American
orchestras. the Chicago Symphony has the highest percentage subscribed in
relation to overall sales, the highest rate of renewal. the greatest ticket
revenue earned for the winter subscription season. and at the same time
the greatest percentage of tickets below $20.
Stephen Belth, Vice President for Communications, who oversees marketing
and ticket sales for the CSO. commented, "If the Orchestra could offer
the secret for its growth in sales this year. it's based on having its audience
respond to three incredible musical figures, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Georg
Solti. and Pierre Boulez, leading an ensemble whose first commitment is
to perform music that can be consistently relied on for the highest quality."
Belth further noted that both subscriptions renewals and new orders for
the 1996- 1997 season are ahead of the one that just ended.
Contact: Lawrence Maushard 3
June 1996
(312) 294-3092 137 *** 105
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