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San Diego Symphony Achieves Record Ticket Sales

The San Diego Symphony’s 2016-2017 season set a new sales record, with its classical series bringing in 15.6% more revenue than last year. The symphony’s musicians are members of Local 325 (San Diego, CA).

Combined with the summer 2016 outdoor series, the symphony also set an overall record for the number of paid admissions for an entire fiscal year, with 154,614 tickets sold. In addition to the record-setting sales, the classical series garnered 4,034 more paid admissions, representing an 8.2% increase over last season.

Four performances at the symphony’s 2,200-seat concert hall were sold out: both dates of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in March, Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton in October, and the Chamber Orchestra with conductor David Danzmayr in February. Conductor Edo de Waart’s three-performance run of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was symphony’s best-selling triple concert in its history, with more than 6,000 paid attendees.

In total, ticket revenue exceeded $6 million—just under 30% of the orchestra’s operating budget of $24 million. The orchestra attributes the increases to more aggressive and efficient use of technology, which has allowed it to create stronger relationships with patrons.