Despite surviving a bankruptcy in 2011, it appears the Philadelphia Orchestra’s woes are not over. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the organization experienced a 4.4% drop in attendance at its performances last season — from 160,000 paid listeners in 2013-14 to 153,000 in 2014-15. The article states that on average, the 2,500-seat Verizon Hall, the orchestra’s home at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, was filled to “76 percent of capacity with paying listeners for the orchestra's 84 main subscription concerts.”
"We had a shortfall of $3 million in our ticket sales and in our recurring contributions," orchestra spokeswoman Katherine Blodgett told the Inquirer. "Nevertheless, expenses were within budget and additional extraordinary gifts enabled us to balance the budget."
According to the Inquirer:
Looking ahead to the current year, the orchestra has cut $1.8 million to make its $44 million budget. Staff hires have been deferred, theatrical elements have been eliminated from a production of Messiah, and a L'Histoire du soldat joint project with the Mural Arts Program and director James Alexander that was to have been part of the Kimmel's Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts next spring has been shelved.
Read the full article here.