Does cinema create new opera audiences?

The answer is a big fat NO, according to a new survey commissioned by English Touring Opera.

The study of 234 operagoers "found that 81% of cinema opera attendees were over 60 years old, with an age profile slightly older than that typically found at live opera. In addition, the study indicates that attending a cinema broadcast of opera does not regularly inspire cinema-goers to attend live opera in a theatre, with 85% of respondents reporting no increased motivation to attend live after their cinema experience."

The survey covered only London, where live opera is available virtually seven nights a week. It's possible that viewers outside the capital, with less access to the real thing, might think differently.

Nevertheless it's hard to disagree with the conclusions of ETO’s general director James Conway: “A lot has been speculated about the potential for cinema relays to create new audiences for live opera. I would love that to be the case but, as this research indicates, it may be wishful thinking."

Comments

[bryan]

I live in NYC where we of course have the Met. I have been to a couple of Met HD broadcasts in Manhattan and hard as it is to believe the audience for the broadcasts actually seems older than the audience at the Met. At the Met--at least in the Balcony and Family Circle (i.e. the cheap seats) you do see some younger people I'm 58 and at the HD broadcasts I felt like a young whippersnapper.

[Claire]

The first time I saw opera was the 2008 film production of La Boheme. It was at the cinema on campus at my university (Kent). Having seen it and enjoyed it, I booked a ticket to see Dr Atomic (Adams) at ENO and thus began my route into loving opera.

Opera in cinemas may not create a LOT of new audiences, but it may create a few new fans.

It's also brilliant having access to ROH and Met operas in a cinema when you live outside London.

[John]

Same in Toronto. The HD audience is probably comparable with COC on a Sunday which is definitely the "oldest" day. Saturday nights at COC one now sees a good proportion of 30 somethings all dressed up. It's rather nice.

On the broader issue I think it's clear that cinema broadcasts are creating a new live audience. The MetHDs seem mainly to serve opera remote areas and that audience segment that wants to see the Met's oldest, dullest productions. Not so sure about the ROH broadcasts. They seem to attract a much smaller audience and as far as I can tell it's people who are already regular live opera goers.

[John]

make that "not creating a new live audience" doh!

[Dogbrook]

Does cinema provide access to the sight and sound of opera to people who might not otherwise have access to it? It certainly seems so, and that's what it should be judged on. That the cinema opera audiences are older than the theatre audiences is no surprise. I hope it is still happening in my local cinema when I'm old enough for a trip into town for the opera house to seem a bit much too. Live opera relay in cinema is a great addition to provision (with the cost still being an issue, however). Given the quality of sound and the closeness of the picture, as well as the comfort of the seats, I know people who prefer the cinema to the opera house.

[JDabrowski]

Where I am (a large city in the US, but fairly far from New York), the Met in HD audience is elderly. I am in my mid-30s and am always the youngest person in the movie theater. My city in general has a disproportionately older demographic, but it appears that this is the pattern everywhere. Live opera productions in my city also have a geriatric audience, but there are inevitably some younger people who show up, especially no doubt because there are free tickets available on some university campuses. (The latter would be an interesting idea for the Met to invest in when it comes to promoting the HDs outside the New York metro area, but the difficulty -- at least in my city -- is that the movie theaters that show the HDs are deep in the suburbs, far from any university campuses and not easily accessible via the mass transit routes that most students use.)

I first started going to the Met in HD because I am a Wagnerian, and only the very largest companies can put on most Wagner productions, my local company not being one of them. Eventually I started going to other HDs because of my respect for the top-notch singers, and I will say definitively that witnessing Anna in the movie theater eventually prompted me to make the trip to hear her in New York, now twice, because I know full well that the sound is very different in the house. (Both she and Beczała are astounding when heard live.)

But I recognize that I am a bit of a weirdo, so I'm no indication of a trend.

[SJT]

Timing is an issue here, at least for the Met relays. I know people who baulk at being out late at night, and welcome the 6p.m.starts for the New York transmissions. It's the same audience that packs out the Philharmonia's Sunday matinées at the RFH, skewing considerably older than the usual crew at live events.

This factor of course doesn't apply to the ROH's live relays here (which of course in the US just function as another set of matinées): and it would be interesting to know if the audiences for them in this country skew similarly senior. I rather doubt it: and wonder if Gelb's belief that, domestically at least, HD relays do no more than cannibalise the local live audience also holds true here.

Either way, it seems doubtful that they are creating a new audience for live opera; merely an old audience for live opera relays.

[Sheila]

Same situation in my Washington, DC, suburb. Old, old people. Russians who aren't that old but come to see Netrebko. The very occasional young person accompanying an elder or wearing a helmet and there for Wagner. I'm not young, myself, yet I feel young compared to much of the audience.

But so what? Most of those people would not go to the Met, usually because they're too feeble to travel anymore, and often because they can't afford the price of a trip to NYC. At least they get to see opera, and the Met gets their $23 and possibly some additional donations because of all the goodwill the HDs create. It's a win-win.

Yes, I want young people to find opera because I want opera to continue, but even if that stated purpose of the HDs has not been achieved, I believe that getting opera to many more people all over the world who already DO want to see and hear it is a triumph.

[Miriam]

I attend the Met HD's in Ashford, Kent and relays from the ROH (and some other opera/ballet venues) at the University of Kent. I would say that the audiences are all in the upper end of the age range, perhaps on the whole older than the average at live ROH performances which I also attend regularly as well. However I have seen people with children occasionally at the Met HD's - there were one or two at the most recent Cosi and Cenerentola, which perhaps the parents rated as particularly suitable.

For people like me living at some distance from London I would suspect that being able to see these performances (especially ROH) in local cinemas reduces the motivation to go to London and see them live, if only because from here the price of the train fare to London is about the same as the cinema ticket. I sometimes go to the cinema as well as a live performance when I might otherwise have gone twice to the ROH, or go to the cinema instead if it is a production I have sen before and I think I cannot be bothered going to London this time around.

[Miriam]

Further to what I wrote earlier, there are two more factors that are likely to make people from areas like this prefer the cinema to a live performance in London.

One is time, if I go to a London performance I typically leave home about 3 hours before it starts and am lucky if I get back here before 1am. I can drive to the cinema at the university within 20 minutes, or there is a fairly frequent bus service stopping 5 minutes from my house and going through the campus. The time factor makes going to London very difficult for people in full-time employment.

The other thing is that people who are elderly and/or female are often literally frightened of travelling on public transport very late at night.

[Graham Thomas]

Are we not missing the point that the majority of people who go to the cinema to see opera ARE the new audience. Most of these people would not go to live performances for either financial or logistical reasons. It's all very well Renee telling us to visit the Met and see it live but the majority of people simply do not have the resources to do this.

Surely what the cinema is doing is taking the opera out to the people who do not have access otherwise? And hasn't opera always had an older audience? It's a sophisticated art form and not for everybody but it's great to see Clapham Picture House packed for the Met reprises on a Tuesday lunchtime regardless of the age of the people.

I am not sure how the opera houses can turn this into cash revenue for themselves but if you love opera and you don't live in London or New York then the cinema is a brilliant way to see it. Given it's a lot cheaper too then I am much more likely to go and see something new at the cinema and then commit to the cost of a ticket for the real thing.

[Elizabeth A Trainor]

I live in a small town in California. I love classical music and opera and the Met HD broadcasts are terrific. I am in my eighties (yes we oldies do go to the HD a lot!) and I can never go to New York to see the Met live. For $22 I have a wonderful musical experience with the added interest of backstage interviews and, another plus, the shows start at 10.00 am here. My friend and I try to never miss a broadcast and enjoyed The Nose last season and, of course, we loved Roberto Alagna in Tosca!