Dutch National Opera Announces Return to Pre-Pandemic Attendance Numbers
By David SalazarThe Dutch National Opera & Ballet has announced that seat occupancy throughout 2023 was back up to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Per an official press release issued by the company, the house averaged 95 percent capacity throughout 2023. The opera itself achieved 94 percent seat occupancy, an increase of over eight percent when compared to 2018. Moreover, new audience members rose from 18 percent to 25 percent in 2023; 16 percent of the company’s audience is 35 and under, compared to 10 percent in 2019.
“We’re delighted that our audiences have found us once again in large numbers,” said Stijn Schoonderwoerd, general director of Dutch National Opera & Ballet in an official press statement. “ For everyone, it was a question of waiting to see how quickly the audience would return after years of lockdown during the corona crisis. These figures demonstrate the huge appeal of our art forms. The fact that we’ve returned to 2019 levels so quickly is testimony to a great appreciation of opera and ballet, and good accessibility to these art forms.”
Finally, the company revealed that the most popular operas of the 2023 season were “Die Zauberflöte,” “Lohengrin,” “Animal Farm,” “Innocence,” “Lohengrin,” and “Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny.”
