The OSM cancels performances, Les violons du Roy are waiting the Messiah, the OSQ is counting on “Black Friday” and the Metropolitan takes care of its subscribers: the slow and measured return of the public in theaters thwarts the optimistic scenarios of postpandemic exuberance. Going out to concerts, even if they are safe, are not yet popular and the relationship of institutions to the public has changed.
Without fanfare, the Orchester symphonique de Montréal decided to cancel performances. Three concerts which were to be given twice by the end of the year will only be presented on one evening: From The Firebird to the Bell Orchestra November 25; From Ravel to Barber with Gemma New on December 2 and The childhood of Christ by Berlioz with Hervé Niquet on December 22.
These are three of the five artistic proposals to come and all of the programs not directed by Rafael Payare or Kent Nagano. “Canceling a concert is a difficult decision, taken as a team. This is not what we want to do, but if the conditions lead us to a possible cancellation in the case of insufficient filling, we will do it ”, tells us Ines Lenzi, Director of Sales and Service at the clientele at the OSM. Mme Lenzi does not define what threshold, what time, triggers an alarm. “I cannot give the number. With our experience, we see what is coming, what is moving and what is not. “Everything is unpredictable: COVID, our customers, the pandemic,” she sums up. Any decisions on the second part of the season will not be taken until 2022.
Barometers
In Quebec, if the situation remains lethargic, Les Violons du Roy are subject to possible cancellations of programs presented two evenings. Here, the barometer is set by Laurent Patenaude, co-general manager and artistic director: the concert of Messiahby Händel on December 8 in Quebec and on December 10 in Montreal. ” After The Messiah, we’re going to watch the second half of the season. If, while we never missed our goals, The Messiah turned out to be a disaster this year, all the red lights would come on. We would understand that there is no longer anything certain. “
The Quebec and Montreal symphony orchestras, the Orchester Métropolitain and Les violons du Roy are all seeing a decline in long-term buying and an increase in last-minute impulse buying. To look more clearly at the start of 2022, the OSM hopes that “during the holidays, people will buy [billets en] Christmas presents “.
“Since the beginning of November, we have been on hold, because the OSQ is still offering discounts for Black Friday [le Vendredi fou] and Boxing Day [les soldes de l’Après-Noël]. We had been selling 550 tickets a day since September and we just fell below 100. With these promotions, over the years, we had sold $ 100,000 worth of tickets during the holiday season ”, explains Carl Langelier, director of the marketing and communications of the Orchester symphonique de Québec. Its challenge is all the more crucial given that the OSQ has announced its two-part season: the September-December part in June, the rest this fall. “It’s new for customers to subscribe twice in the same season or to make purchases a second time. “
Bring back the faithful
Of the four institutions, the OSQ was the only one to come forward in June. “We had budgeted for 250 people in the room from September to December,” explains Carl Langelier. With a one-time price of $ 70 per ticket, seats sold out quickly. “When the authorization to accommodate 1000 people arrived, we wondered what we were going to do. As people had bought under the old parameters, we decided to keep these parameters to meet our commitments. “
Within the autumn offer, three flagship concerts (9e Symphony by Beethoven, a family concert and the Damien Robitaille pop concert) were however out of the lot to be open to the full. “We attracted 1,500 people for the 9e by Beethoven and 1400 for the family concert, says Carl Langelier, who is delighted. But we had to be consistent: when the gauge opened, we couldn’t add another pricing. Until December, it will therefore be $ 70. That said, 2019 subscribers got a discount.
Subscribers are seen as the lifeblood of recovery. Martin Hudon, Marketing and Communications Director of the Orchester Métropolitain, notes a different strategy between theater companies, which have decided to work on subscriptions from January 2022, and orchestras, which immediately banked on this core. “Without consulting each other, like the OSM, we bet on the subscription. We wanted subscribers to engage as soon as possible. The authorized number of spectators admitted being uncertain, “the only thing that we could not promise them were their seats”.
Martin Hudon indicates that the Metropolitan has found 900 of its 1,500 subscribers. “What will happen in January when we do a relaunch?” Will we get to 1200-1300? He asks himself. The OM deficit corroborates that of the OSQ. “For our series“ Les matins en musique ”, where the clientele is rather old, we had 500 people, and there, we lack 150”, says Carl Langelier, who estimates on the whole of “20 to 22%” the number of missing subscribers.
At the OSM, Ines Lenzi revised the subscription formula. “We’ve made life easier for everyone. We have abolished the subscription for the series and offered an à la carte subscription from three concerts. With three concerts, we offer a 20% discount. The OSM does not communicate figures or studies on the clientele. “We made inquiries, but a while ago” …
The reasons for mistrust
“At Les Violons du Roy, we launched our full season on September 15th. We sold our subscriptions on a maskless distancing basis, and on October 8 that changed. Laurent Patenaude, the co-director of Les Violons, then surveyed his customers. “Over 700 people responded in a very respectful manner,” he says, “but many subscribers told us, ‘Knowing that this would change, we wouldn’t have subscribed. Be side by side [avec d’autres spectateurs ne nous tente pas], we prefer to wait! ” “
Mr. Patenaude estimates that 25% of customers are really annoyed by wearing a mask during the entire concert and thinks that half of them cherish the idea of not coming to the shows. With the exception of a few cases at Les Violons du Roy, no institution has, however, recorded any subscription cancellations after October 8.
The percentage of listeners not wishing to attend a concert if they must remain masked is the same at OM. “When the distancing was lifted, in our survey, 20 to 25% of people said they could reconsider coming,” says Martin Hudon. At the OSQ, which is currently investigating, it is judged that, among those absent, “there are those who do not go out, those who do not like masks, but nothing stands out. There are not 50% of people who say: “We are afraid.” “
In the short-term changes, Laurent Patenaude thinks that the communication of institutions is called to evolve. “Our lines of communication will have to be closer to the event. “Carl Langelier has” two marketing plans “in mind:” one to retain customers and one for acquisition. “
Can we attract other clienteles in times of crisis? The OSM does not have the profile of last minute buyers of Bronfman and Tetzlaff concerts. But Laurent Patenaude notes that, for the Philip Glass concert by Kerson Leong and Nicolas Ellis, 20% of the room was 34 years old and under. “They pay less, but since our older audience is more worried about their health, maybe there is something that can be done. Perhaps a more difficult season is an opportunity to test things. I would like businesses, companies or even public authorities to say: “we can help you find audiences you don’t usually attract”. “
Mr. Patenaude insists on the importance of sticking together in this uncertain year. “We were well supported during the crisis. It would be a shame to let us down this year. It will be the year that will hurt the most, because aid will slowly decrease while the pandemic is not over, as habits may have changed and we will have to adapt. “