| In January 1994 we premiered our 1st large-scale arena production in '360-degree' setting in Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands. We stepped into the opera production world with the double production Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, without any opera knowledge. We like to share our 'lessons learned’ and what became of us. Who knows, maybe entrepreneurs with event ambitions will pick-up something from our story. | ||
| Youthful hubris or self-aggrandisement | ||
| Watching our videos of our last opera production Nabucco at the Stade de France in 2008 in front of 57,000 spectators, one would not expect that in 1992 all this started in youthful hubris or perhaps as self-aggrandisement. That what we started as a 'PR job' would grow into our core business in which, thanks to our production structure and business model adopted, we have enjoyed great success for 15 years. | ||
| From adviser to promoter | ||
| In the spring of 1992, the new director of the Ahoy Sports Palace in Rotterdam asked us to investigate the possibility of an opera in Ahoy. After market research we concluded positively with the caveat to make a long-term plan, not to let it be a one-day event and to involve the business market. For Ahoy, it worked out well that we advised not to do it too late in the year and certainly not in the summer months. They had no major events or exhibitions planned for the month of January, so the last week of January could be reserved for some years for this event. After asking around, no promoter turned out to be interested in taking the risk of an opera in Ahoy. Then came the question of whether we, in cooperation with Ahoy, would be the promoter. As a company, we have experience with internal communications strategies, PR and marketing and had experience with small-scale events. We may have been opera lovers, but we had no knowledge of making theatre, let alone opera in a large space. | ||
| Expertise you don't have to have yourself | ||
| Our company maxim was that you had to take on an adventure, provided you can hire the people who do have the expertise to see the job through to completion. In 1990, a successful sports hall production of the opera AIDA had been staged in Den Bosch. We contacted that production team and presented our plan for Ahoy. The plan appealed to them, but time was tight to develop their own production. The division of labour was that they would deal with the opera production part and we would focus on marketing and ticket sales. Marketing-wise, it was convenient to do a 'test' production first, before major investments in a new production would have to be made. For January 1993, we chose the opera Nabucco, which had also previously been performed in Liege in a sports arena. This bought us time to get audience reaction and enough time to prepare properly to come up with the 1st production of our own in 1994. To then expand the series of opera titles under the brand name 'Opera in Ahoy'. | ||
| From promoting to producing | ||
| Nabucco became a success with audiences and press, but during the preparation we already concluded that the way in which the production came about was not worth repeating. Used to working from predetermined budgets, we had made agreements with the executive production team in accordance with that working method. We were faced with non-budgeted costs from the executive team and errors in the existing budgets emerged. All this forced us to take charge of the production ourselves as yet to avoid financial loss. We learnt that in the theatre world, it was more than common to exceed budgets without direct consequences. For us as a commercial company, this was unthinkable. | ||
| Own 'concept or product’ | ||
| Every day, we learned more about what was involved in producing an opera and the problems and pitfalls of wanting to realise an opera in a large space like the Ahoy Sportpaleis. Learning from the Nabucco experience, we decided to become the producer of the new production and manage the creative development and execution of the new production ourselves. The 1st step was to recruit a creative team that could perfectly fulfil our concept. In our concept, we use the entire Ahoy floor as a stage and the audience sits on the stands around it. We later started calling this concept the '360-degree' concept and it has remained the format for all the other 30+ productions. | ||
| Shared responsibility | ||
| After the creative team came up with a convincing interpretation of our concept, a production structure was set up and specialists were hired to take execution responsibility for one of the many’ logical' disciplines involved in opera making (think scenery, costumes, sound, lighting, etc). They themselves became responsible for budgeting and realising those parts of their remit within that budget (think of selecting set builders, selecting technical staff on and behind the stage, etc.). | ||
| Open budgets | ||
| As part of the methodology, we worked with open budgets and quotes. Each specialist made his or her budget based on multiple offers and advised which offer best suited our end goal and quality requirements. Because this was done with open offers, transparency in the briefings and discussions with suppliers was also a prerequisite. This guaranteed us that decisions were made based on the established criteria and it was more common that the higher price was preferred to the cheapest after all. Later when we worked with foreign promoters, we also used this model. Everything was budgeted openly, each had the duty to stay within its own budget and in case of overruns to solve it within the budget. A break-even was determined based on ticket capacity and profits were split 50/50. | ||
| Recognise your own shortcomings | ||
| It was a new way of working for the specialists we had hired, but it also gave everyone a lot of freedom to arrive at the best interpretation for each discipline, in coordination with the creative team and us. That space also ensured that the specialists had the authority to lead the teams during execution. When you trust specialists, because you recognise that you yourself do not have the substantive knowledge to do what they do, you get respect and trust in return. Something that pays off at times when things don't go according to plan. Our job was to manage the process and create the conditions for these specialists to do their work properly. We also monitored the established quality requirements, schedules and budgets. | ||
| A small team is sufficient | ||
| During the whole production period, we experienced that this working method was appreciated, because it became a jointly supported project where everyone felt responsible for the whole and not just for their own field of work. Later in the production period, this served us well when problems arose. This working philosophy also worked to our advantage in the following years, especially with the ever-increasing opera productions abroad. The structure remained the same, responsibility was shared and with a few people within the company we were able to manage everything. | ||
| The summer of 1993 | ||
| Artistically we succeeded beyond our hopes and dreams to produce an opera in a big venue without any gaudy special effect elements that are usually used to pep-up a scene. Again, we received great reviews and appreciation from the audience for the high quality of this daring approach. | ||
| No contingency plan | ||
| We realised that we had not thought about this kind of setback. Suddenly we were faced with the choice; is it responsible to continue or should we take our losses. Since we had no scenarios ready to fall back on in case of emergency, the first thought was to just take our loss, realising what the consequences would be for our business. Looking back at that period, we now know, that all our actions in the years that followed were determined by the decision we took then. | ||
| Belief in own concept | ||
| We realised that stopping the project meant the final end to ever being able to realise large-scale operas in our 360-degree concept again. We pushed aside the financial risks for a while and went back to the principles of our original advice to Ahoy on the chances for an opera in Ahoy. This clearly substantiated that there was a market for large-scale opera, and particularly in the business market, if it were an 'annual' event. This referred to the success of the ABNAMRO tennis tournament and other business events in Ahoy. | ||
| Originality and quality | ||
| At the forefront of our advice was the need for 'quality', 'originality' and 'local bonding' of the productions. Our 360-degree concept and the way it was scenically developed for the operas Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliaccia offered that originality. By contracting a known conductor, an experienced cast and the official Opera Orchestra of the Budapest opera house, we had assured ourselves of quality. | ||
| Local bonding | ||
| Local involvement was woven into our concept in that we always wanted to work with a local choir and local extras and had hopes of including a Dutch orchestra in the productions. Later, we managed to do just that. Moreover, our set-up guaranteed great sight lines from every seat and, of course, better comfort in a venue like Ahoy, which was widely appreciated as an entertainment venue. We only had to adjust our media strategy to ensure that, much earlier than at the premiere, audiences could get acquainted with the unique product we had to offer. | ||
| Payback opportunity | ||
| With faith in our own concept and the quality we had to offer, the new media strategy and confidence in the budget we had made, we decided to go ahead. If we had taken the decision to stop then, we would have had to bear the costs incurred anyway, but without the possibility of making up for this loss with subsequent productions. This decision was not taken lightly. During this process, it became clear how valuable the chosen production structure was because, together with the hired specialists, all possibilities were weighted to see where there was budgetary space per discipline and where there were possibilities to cut costs, without sacrificing quality. More than ever, they felt responsible. Both in mutual cooperation and within their own discipline, everything was done to perform optimally in order to make the opera performance perfect. We accepted that there would be a calculated loss at the end. | ||
| Bold and saved | ||
| Rarely have we had more pre-publicity on a production than on the Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci production. The construction of the set at Beyne & Zn in Bussum produced some great photos. But especially the rehearsals in decor that we managed to bring forward to December 1993 resulted in many photos and reports in the Dutch newspapers, but also, for instance, a large photo in The Independent. With the rehearsal coverage in the program of a popular Dutch presenter, Tineke on Saturday on Veronica, we reached a large TV audience. The poster campaign, made possible by our media partners, resulted in a national wide spread with posters hanging in the bus stops for no less than a month. Moreover, the CD recording released in November was well received by the press. All this caused the negative mood about large-scale operas to turn and hesitant ticket sales also picked up. | ||
| The family test | ||
| For the general rehearsal, the families and friends of all the collaborators in the production were invited. This allowed over 4 thousand people to be introduced to our concept and gave us a first indication of how the audience would react to our production. Since it was the 1st time we would use the sound system in a 360-degree set-up and sound, even more than image, is all-important for the theatrical form of opera, a full dress rehearsal was necessary. It makes quite a difference whether you adjust the complicated sound system in an empty or full hall, especially in a cold January month. The premiere on 19 January was still to come, but after the goosebump-inducing applause from our families and friends at the end of the general of Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, there were high-five’s: we had done it. | ||
| Relief | ||
| The premiere on Wednesday 19 January, with the press in the stands, was the real test moment for our concept. In 1994, social media did not exist so we had to wait for the written media and their judgement. We can still see all the collaborators standing at the production notice board backstage, on which we had hung the front page of de Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad of 20 January, a large photo and a headline that made us blush: 'Opera in Ahoy' a miracle of artistry'. Many positive reviews followed that same day and the days after, including in all the regional papers. It was a stroke of luck that Ahoy was less fully booked in January at that time. We had planned the performances over two weeks, concentrated mainly on the weekends. We were able to take full advantage of the positive reviews and word-of-mouth advertising, resulting in a strong final sprint in ticket sales for the 2nd weekend | ||
| Carmen in January 1995 | ||
| With the help of our partner Ahoy and our suppliers, we managed to break even. After the last performance, we could proudly announce to all our collaborators and the press that Opera in Ahoy would continue. The following year, in January 1995, we produced Carmen, one of the most popular operas. Carmen became a great artistic and financial success with 7 sold-out performances. This was followed by 7 more Operas in Ahoy- production, mostly premieres, and many more productions abroad. The series of more than 30+ opera productions ended for us in 2008 at the Stade de France with the opera Nabucco. In those 15 years, more than a million visitors have enjoyed our productions. | ||
| This website you can find information about all the productions. In addition, we have recorded some of these productions and they can be seen, without pay-wall, on this website as-well. | ||