Attendance plummets for Cincinnati orchestra

The orchestra expects to break even for the season by the end of this month.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which critics call one of the country’s best, is playing to an increasingly empty house, the orchestra said.

Attendance during the 53-concert season ending last May dropped 10 percent from the previous season, and subscription ticket sales slid by nearly 14 percent, orchestra officials said Friday.

With top conductor Paavo Jarvi as music director, the orchestra is “playing better than the New York Philharmonic,” said Sandra Rivers, professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

“It’s such a shame that the better they’re playing, the audience is not there,” she said. “It shouldn’t be hard to sell when you’re dealing with a first-rate product.”

Private donors stepped in to raise an additional $1.8 million this year to keep the orchestra from sliding into a deficit. The orchestra expects to break even for the 2006-07 season by the end of August, officials said.

Business model

The symphony has launched a business model that would replace the money it draws from its $74 million endowment and faltering ticket sales with private donations, and so far the model has been working well, said Marvin Quin, incoming chairman of the orchestra’s board of directors.

A world-class symphony is very important to Cincinnati’s arts community and a significant part of the city’s economic success, said Larry Magnesen, the company’s senior vice president. Recruiters from the company use the orchestra as a marketing point to lure top employees to Cincinnati, he said.

“If you have second-rate arts, you’re going to be viewed as a second-rate city,” Quin said.

The symphony’s average attendance has dropped since it raised ticket prices by an average of 25 percent three years ago.

Orchestras across the country are experiencing declining attendance as audiences age and an interest in classical music declines in popular culture and in school curriculums.

The Cincinnati Pops, which is made up of the same musicians as the symphony but plays lighter fare such as show tunes and hits from movie soundtracks, saw a slight increase in attendance and subscription sales last season.