From the press release:
OREGON SYMPHONY CONTINUES WINNING STREAK
WITH ANOTHER STRONG SEASON
The 2015/16 season, with its wide-ranging musical offerings and energized community engagement efforts, sets more new records.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) – President
Scott Showalter announced
today the results of the 2015/16 season, his second as the Symphony
President. In addition to exceeding its revenue goals, the Oregon
Symphony set a number of new records, including total season
subscription revenue, total classical
ticket revenue, percentage of first-time ticket buyers, the highest
grossing single concert, and the amount raised at the annual gala.
Consequently, the Symphony balanced its budget for the seventh
consecutive season.
The
2015/16 season, propelled by strong performances from the orchestra,
continued the Symphony’s embrace of a broad musical spectrum, with 82
performances of 50 concert
programs—ranging from internationally renowned classical performers
like Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, and Lang Lang, to Special Concerts and
Presentations featuring Patti LaBelle, Melissa Etheridge, Gregory Alan
Isakov, and Lily Tomlin. The season also saw the debut
of the “Popcorn Package,” a new series which included live-to-picture
performances of
The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, Star Trek Into Darkness, and
Back to the Future.
Artistic highlights included:
·
The third Grammy nomination in the last four years, with the 2016 nomination of
Spirit of the American Range for the Best Orchestral Performance.
·
The first year of percussionist Colin Currie’s three-year appointment as the Symphony’s Artist in Residence.
·
A widely praised five-part broadcast series on All Classical Portland.
The season drew
historic ticket revenue:
·
Season subscription revenue up 7%.
·
20% of tickets purchased by patrons joining the Symphony for the first time.
·
22% of the season’s performances were sold out.
·
Classical subscription revenue up 5%.
It also saw
strong performances for contributed revenue:
·
Contributed revenue of $8.3 million.
·
The annual gala raised $870,000, a 24% increase over last year’s record.
·
$1.87 million in contributions from the Oregon Symphony Association and Foundation Boards.
·
Support from over
25 foundations and 36 corporations, including the James F. and Marion L.
Miller Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Collins Foundation, the
Brookby
Foundation, the Oregon Community Foundation, Umpqua Bank, Jay and Diane
Zidell Charitable Foundation, and Wells Fargo Foundation.
·
Receipt of $513,972
from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, which included funding from
the Arts Education and Access Fund as well as ongoing operational
support.
The
Oregon Symphony continued to expand its education and community
engagement efforts, with innovative programs like those in the David
Douglas and Gladstone School
Districts, Newberg’s Chehalem Cultural Center, St. Mary’s Home for
Boys, Mary’s Woods, and Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.
In addition, the Symphony and its musicians performed and taught in a variety of places and venues throughout the community:
·
An
expanded Waterfront Concert drew 18,000 attendees, with performances by
Portland Opera, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Youth Philharmonic,
Metropolitan Youth
Symphony, BRAVO Youth Orchestra, Hillsboro School District Mariachi Una
Voz, Irish fiddler Kevin Burke, and Portland Taiko.
·
Months
of teaching in various area schools that culminated in a “Link Up”
concert with Carnegie Hall—with 2,700 Portland elementary students
performing and singing
alongside the Oregon Symphony in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
·
A
full orchestra concert, featuring the film music of John Williams, at
Rosa Parks Elementary School included a side-by-side performance with
the young BRAVO
Youth Orchestra for the second season in a row.
·
2,700
students in all nine grade schools within the David Douglas School
District prepared for and performed with the Oregon Symphony in the
concert hall as
part of the Oregon Community Foundation-funded “Studio to Schools”
program.
·
Through
this same OCF grant, 23 Alice Ott Middle School string students
received weekly private lessons by Oregon Symphony teaching artists to
boost skills and
encourage continued participation in the school orchestra.
·
36 Kinderkonzerts in three host schools were attended by 10,000 grade K-2 students.
·
Four
Young People’s Concerts were performed at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert
Hall for 7,000 students. 60 classroom visits were made to prepare
students for these
concerts.
·
Over 1,000 pre-schoolers enjoyed 14 Symphony Storytimes at five public libraries.
·
Five
Oregon Symphony ensembles performed at St. Mary’s Home for Boys and the
Coffee Creek Women’s Correctional Facility, and at many other community
venues.
·
Five visiting soloists, including Joshua Bell, Pablo Villegas, and Simone Lamsma visited students in a variety of schools.
·
In a new collaboration with Earthtones Music
Therapy services, Marylhurst University, and the Alzheimer’s Association
of Oregon, 150 residents and caregivers at Mary’s Woods Continuing Care
Retirement Center in Lake Oswego participated
in a pilot series of eight weekly music therapy-informed sessions of
“musicNOW,” designed to use music to enrich the social and emotional
well-being of those with age-related cognitive loss.
“We
are all immensely proud to have added the power of music to so many
lives throughout this great community of ours,” Showalter said. “And we
are deeply grateful
for the support the entire community has shown the Oregon Symphony.”
The
Symphony signals the opening of Portland’s music season at the
September 1 Waterfront Concert, the largest free concert in the state.
The 2016/17 Oregon Symphony season—its 120th Anniversary Season—officially opens on September 10, when the renowned
Renée Fleming returns.
