by The UK’s leading opera house is under fire after its new dynamic pricing model pushed ticket prices above £400.
Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) offers tickets for Wagners Siegfriedthe third chapter of the Ring cyclefor up to £415.
It is the most expensive ticket sold in the UK by a publicly subsidized arts company. RBO receives a government grant of over £22 million each year from Arts Council England.
Responding to the criticism, Covent Garden-based RBO said: “We have introduced demand-led pricing this season, meaning ticket prices may now change depending on audience demand.”
“This approach allows us to maximize ticket revenue and support a financially sustainable future for the RBO.
They added that tickets for Siegfried start at £19 and that the £400 price limit represents the upper tier.
They reiterated their commitment to affordability, which “remains central” to their offering.
At the beginning of the year, tickets for giantMark Rosenblatt’s play about Roald Dahl’s anti-Semitism, starring John Lithgow, was offered on the same model for £436.
The dynamic pricing has caused controversy across the entertainment industry, with Oasis and Ariana Grande fans all collectively outraged when tickets sold for hundreds of pounds more than expected.
While RBO warned that the rule could cause final prices to “fluctuate slightly” during ticket purchase, it assured players that prices would not change as long as they are “in your cart.”
Siegfriedconducted by former music director Sir Antonio Pappano and directed by Barrie Kosky, is a long performance of just under six hours.
The Covent Garden production will feature two intermissions, including an extended “dinner break,” but is still considered one of the biggest artistic and logistical challenges for opera houses.
Supporters of the system have argued that these prices pale in comparison to the huge sums charged for Premier League football matches – prices for Arsenal are £146.50 and Fulham are £125.
Thangam Debbonaire, chairman of the UK Opera Association, said last week that the perception that opera is only for “posh people” “has a grip on many decision-makers”.
The opera industry has endured difficult years, with funding cuts leading to fewer touring, orchestral and choir members at several organisations, such as the Welsh National Opera.
The RBO’s grant has also been reduced from £25m to £22m – but it is still the highest amount awarded to a UK performing arts organisation.
It said in its latest annual report it would “combat headwinds in the form of rising costs, increasing pressure on box office revenue and the need for significant investment to maintain our aging capital infrastructure”.
