Ticket sales swell for Indy Symphony’s indoor season

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has scored a molto festivamente surge in ticket sales for its 2014-15 indoor concert season, as the number of patrons jumped 15 percent, the ISO announced Friday.

The ISO sold 127,835 tickets for the 142 concerts in its latest indoor season, which ended last month. That was up from 110,770 tickets for the 2013-14 season. Of the 127,835 tickets sold for the latest season, 59,765 were from subscription packages, up from 48,782 the previous season.

Accordingly, the group recorded a jump in the number of subscription packages sold. The figure rose 24 percent, to 8,589, compared with a year earlier.

The ISO’s subscription series include classical, pops, Happy Hour and family programs. In the most recent season, the orchestra also added a six-concert series of classical music at Carmel’s Palladium, as well as the seven-concert 317 Series in Hendricks County and the Greenwood area.

The two new series contributed to a 52-percent rise in the number of new subscribers for the indoor season—2,969 compared with 1,941 the previous season.

“The strong sales and attendance results confirm that we continue to reach more people in our community and that there is a real buzz about the ISO’s performances,” said Gary Ginstling, CEO of the ISO.

The indoor season does not include ISO's Symphony on the Prairie series.

The results for the 2014-2015 indoor season built on sales growth during the previous year. The 110,770 tickets sold in 2013-14 were up 19 percent from the 2012-13 season, and the 45,500 subscriber tickets represented a 30-percent rise.

The group declined to release revenue from ticket sales during the indoor season. It reports overall revenue for the fiscal year at its annual meeting in December.

Season ticket sales and overall attendance are closely watched metrics for the orchestra, which operated in the red for five consecutive years before reporting an operating surplus for its 2013 fiscal year.

The ISO logged a $266,255 operating surplus last year. It was fueled in part by an 18-percent jump in ticket sales for the 2013-14 season.

Much of the orchestra’s recent turnaround has been attributed to budget cuts, which included steep pay cuts for musicians.

In the current season, ISO officials were encouraged by a rise in the number of discounted student tickets sold. For the indoor shows, 9,014 student tickets were purchased—a new record and a 33-percent increase from the previous season.

“Nothing is more important to the ISO than ensuring that younger generations are exposed to the thrill of live orchestra performances,” Ginstling said.

The orchestra’s summer season is well under way. The ISO’s free community concert in Garfield Park on July 1 attracted more than 5,000 attendees, and attendance at its Symphony on the Prairie performances during the July 4 weekend was the second-highest on record, with more than 23,000 patrons.