Issued Thursday, 21 April 2005
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE SELECTS TESSITURA SOFTWARE FOR NEW TICKETING SYSTEM
Following the completion of a tender process Tessitura Software, from Impresario LLC, has been selected by Sydney Opera House as its preferred solution for ticketing, customer relationship marketing and fundraising activity. The system will be supported by the Tessitura Network, of which Sydney Opera House will become a member.
Commenting on the selection, Sydney Opera House Chief Executive Norman Gillespie said, “Tailor-made for the performing arts industry Tessitura provides the unparalleled integrated functionality required to accommodate our diverse audience and multiple partner business model.”
“Tessitura will provide Sydney Opera House with a unified customer support system allowing us to better serve our diverse customer base. For the first time we will be able to comprehensively collect valuable data from our customers to help us plan and respond to changing patterns of demand. We are also excited to be working closely with our partners in this manner,” he continued.
Tessitura is currently in use across a wide range of arts organisations (over 100 licensed organisations) from theatres, ballet companies, museums, to symphony orchestras and performing arts centres. A selection of current users include: The Metropolitan Opera (USA), San Francisco Symphony (USA), Royal Albert Hall (UK), Wales Millennium Centre (UK), The Kennedy Centre (USA), The Kimmel Centre (USA), and Orange County Performing Arts Centre (USA), amongst others.
The system will be owned, managed and supported by Sydney Opera House and will operate in a unique consortium environment with three founding partners – Opera Australia, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Seymour Theatre Centre – having access to the full functionality of the system. Sydney Opera House is also engaged in discussions with Sydney Symphony and The Australian Ballet as to their future involvement in the project.
Each company will retain its own Box Office.
By adopting Tessitura as the preferred solution, existing business limitations will be overcome enabling Sydney Opera House to: pursue new opportunities to increase ticket yields; maximise revenue; leverage costs; improve marketing effectiveness through the increased strategic targeting and evaluation of campaigns; and significantly increase the customer experience.
Currently tickets for performances at Sydney Opera House are available by phone, online, fax, email and in person at Sydney Opera House Box Office. All of these channels will be supported by Tessitura.
Tessitura, originally developed by the Metropolitan Opera for its own use, was implemented in 1998 and is now widely used in the arts field. Smeeta Sharon, who is responsible for Business Operations at the Met, noted that "The rapid acceptance of Tessitura by a growing number of arts organizations is highly gratifying. The Met designed Tessitura to enhance customer relationships, and improve business practices by efficiently driving revenue transactions and boosting fundraising productivity. The end result is organizational improvement. We are pleased to share this powerful technology with the Sydney Opera House and other arts organizations through our Impresario, L.L.C. subsidiary."