The Lyric’s total assets, including its building and investments, declined during the same period to about $306 million from $321.8 million, the forms show. Over the four-year period, they declined to $22.9 million from $52.4 million, while ticket sales grew slightly.

The decline in revenue is primarily due to a reduction in contributions, gifts and grants to the Lyric, according to the IRS forms.

At the same time, expenses grew to $88.1 million from $75.8 million. Ormesher refers to the post-opera season production of American musicals that have brought in new revenue.Īnnual revenue at the Lyric Opera has declined over the last four years, to about $62.5 million in the fiscal year ending mid-2017 from about $90.5 million in 2014, according to tax forms filed with the IRS. “And musical sales, which are single ticket.” These days, we have to make that up with single ticket sales, which are much more expensive to sell. Similarly, “Ten years ago, subscriber revenue was $20 million,” said Lyric Opera board chairman David Ormesher. Roughly a decade ago, Lyric was scheduling 85-90 performances. We’re scheduling the maximum number of opera performances we believe we can sell.”įor this 64th season of Lyric Opera, the company has booked 55 performances. “It’s a national trend that opera performances are harder and more expensive to sell than they ever have been. “We, as responsible managers of a business need to match supply to demand,” said Freud.

Lyric opera strike