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Press Releases
Operabase Publishes Its Annual Statistics and Its New & Rare Opera Listings
Opera is a flourishing, global art form. Opera productions, singers, works and audiences all travel around the world, so the logical way to track the art form is globally. Operabase has been collecting the details of opera performances around the world since 1996, and providing the information free of charge via its website, Operabase.com
Every September, Operabase looks back on the statistics of the seasons that have just finished and analyses the composer and repertoire choices. We also look forward and provide an annual New & Rare Opera Listing as a navigation tool to help audiences to find operatic world premieres and unusual works that they might not otherwise hear about.
Operabase analyses repertoire over a 5-season period to reduce the impact of anomalies from composer anniversaries and to even out random spikes in repertoire choice that would occur if we looked at a single season. Every listings page for operas finishes with a breakdown of how many works were provided by living composers, how many by female composers, and how many were aimed at a child/ youth audience. Looking at all operas over the last five seasons, we find:
We can look further down the table to see how the figures develop:
We can see from this table that the top 40 operas (by numbers of performances across the last five seasons), account for half of all opera performances, and that the top 100 account for two thirds (67.3%) f them. The tables of opera rankings can be found here (top 40), here (top 100), and here (all 2581 titles).
It is interesting to compare the global performance figures above with the operas by living composers alone.
The top three composers, Verdi, Mozart and Puccini, are together responsible for 37,362 performances over the last five seasons – one third of all performances in that period. The top eight composers account for more than half of all performances in this period. The tables of composer rankings can be found here (top 40), and here (all 1257).
One of the responses by US opera companies to the current cultural and financial climate has been to go off the beaten track, and programme new or unusual work. If we focus on the US in the New & Rare listing for the 13/14 season that has just finished, we find 114 works by 81 different composers. [details here]
Of these 81 composers, 43 are living, and of those 36 are American.
Our national listings for the US New & Rare opera in the upcoming season show the same patterns, though at this point in the season we are only listing 79 works from 61 composers: [details here]
Excluding works for children, 16 of the top 40 most performed operas by living composers are by Americans (and 24 of top 100). The listing of the top 100 works includes operas by Philip Glass, Tom Waits, Jake Heggie, John Adams, Andre Previn, Carlisle Floyd, Mark Adamo, and Kirke Mechem. The tables of operas by living composers can be found here (top 100), and here (all 861 operas).
If you write about the material in this press release, or deduce more facts or observations, or create infographics for the data, please let us know.
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Operadata
Every September, Operabase looks back on the statistics of the seasons that have just finished and analyses the composer and repertoire choices. We also look forward and provide an annual New & Rare Opera Listing as a navigation tool to help audiences to find operatic world premieres and unusual works that they might not otherwise hear about.
Key findings
performances- Over the last five seasons, we collected the details of a total of 111,316 performances (average: 22,263 per year). The small increase over previous years is due to continuing improvements in data collection, rather than the numbers of actual performances around the world
- more than half of the 1250 opera composers performed within the last five seasons are living
- the top three composers (Verdi, Mozart, Puccini) accounted for one third of all performances
- Philip Glass and Jake Heggie are the most frequently programmed living opera composers
- Of the 637 living opera composers with performances in the last 5 seasons, only 79 (12.4%) re female
- Over the last five seasons, 2,581 different operas received a total of 111,316 performances
- The top 40 operas account for half of all performances
- There were 132 world premieres of staged lyric works last season
- Over one third (949 from 2581, =36.7%) f all works performed are by living composers
Operas
Many of the 25,000 opera performances each year are from the core repertoire, the classic canon, but there are significant and welcome amounts of new opera, and of explorations into the more unusual repertoire and rediscovery.Operabase analyses repertoire over a 5-season period to reduce the impact of anomalies from composer anniversaries and to even out random spikes in repertoire choice that would occur if we looked at a single season. Every listings page for operas finishes with a breakdown of how many works were provided by living composers, how many by female composers, and how many were aimed at a child/ youth audience. Looking at all operas over the last five seasons, we find:
- 111,316 performances
- 2,581 different operas
- 949 operas by living composers (36.7% o all works performed in this period)
- 119 operas by female composers (4.6% o all works)
| Global rank | National rank | Composer | Opera | Performances in last 5 seasons | Cumulative performances | Percentage of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | it (#1) | Verdi (#1) | La traviata | 3,560 | ||
| #2 | at (#1) | Mozart (#1) | Die Zauberflote | 3,554 | ||
| #3 | fr (#1) | Bizet (#1) | Carmen | 3,147 | 10,261 | 9.2% |
| #4 | it (#2) | Puccini (#1) | La boheme | 2,919 | ||
| #5 | it (#3) | Puccini (#2) | Tosca | 2,483 | ||
| #6 | at (#2) | Mozart (#2) | Le nozze di Figaro | 2,454 | ||
| #7 | it (#4) | Rossini (#1) | Il barbiere di Siviglia | 2,423 | ||
| #8 | it (#5) | Puccini (#3) | Madama Butterfly | 2,411 | ||
| #9 | at (#3) | Mozart (#3) | Don Giovanni | 2,252 | ||
| #10 | at (#4) | Strauss,J (#1) | Die Fledermaus | 2,220 | 27,423 | 24.6% |
We can look further down the table to see how the figures develop:
| Operas | Performances in last 5 seasons | Percentage of total |
|---|---|---|
| Top 3 | 10,261 | 9.2% |
| 10 | 27,423 | 24.6% |
| 40 | 55,774 | 50.1% |
| 100 | 74,969 | 67.3% |
We can see from this table that the top 40 operas (by numbers of performances across the last five seasons), account for half of all opera performances, and that the top 100 account for two thirds (67.3%) f them. The tables of opera rankings can be found here (top 40), here (top 100), and here (all 2581 titles).
It is interesting to compare the global performance figures above with the operas by living composers alone.
- 7,763 performances of works by living composers (compared with 111,316 performances for all composers)
- 949 different works by living composers
- 104 works by female composers (10.9% o all works by living composers performed in this period)
Composers
If the listings are dominated by a few operas, this is even more the case for composers. In the last five seasons, works from 1257 composers have been played, but the lion's share of the 111,316 performances have gone to just three composers.| Global rank | National rank | Composer | Performances in last 5 seasons | Cumulative performances | Percentage of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | it (#1) | Verdi | 15,003 | 15,003 | 13.5% |
| #2 | at (#1) | Mozart | 11,582 | ||
| #3 | it (#2) | Puccini | 10,777 | 37,362 | 33.6% |
| #4 | it (#3) | Rossini | 4,840 | ||
| #5 | de (#1) | Wagner,R | 4,451 | ||
| #6 | it (#4) | Donizetti | 4,331 | ||
| #7 | fr (#1) | Bizet | 3,473 | ||
| #8 | at (#2) | Strauss,J | 2,954 | 57,411 | 51.6% |
| #9 | de (#2) | Strauss,R | 2,444 | ||
| #10 | ru (#1) | Tchaikovsky,P | 2,274 |
The top three composers, Verdi, Mozart and Puccini, are together responsible for 37,362 performances over the last five seasons – one third of all performances in that period. The top eight composers account for more than half of all performances in this period. The tables of composer rankings can be found here (top 40), and here (all 1257).
Operas and composers in the US
"In an especially encouraging development, American – and new American – opera has become commonplace all over the land", wrote Los Angeles Times classical music critic Mark Swed in a column on June 27. A new feature in the New & Rare Listing this year is the ability to filter on individual countries, and that allows us focus on the US to see how new American opera fits into the landscape.One of the responses by US opera companies to the current cultural and financial climate has been to go off the beaten track, and programme new or unusual work. If we focus on the US in the New & Rare listing for the 13/14 season that has just finished, we find 114 works by 81 different composers. [details here]
Of these 81 composers, 43 are living, and of those 36 are American.
Our national listings for the US New & Rare opera in the upcoming season show the same patterns, though at this point in the season we are only listing 79 works from 61 composers: [details here]
American composers and works around the world
American composers are also doing well on the global stage: five of the 15 most frequently programmed living opera composers are American, with Philip Glass and Jake Heggie at positions #1 and #2 respectively, John Adams at #5, Tobias Picker at #12, and Carlisle Floyd at #15. The lists of living composers can be found here (top 40), and here (all 637 living composers)Excluding works for children, 16 of the top 40 most performed operas by living composers are by Americans (and 24 of top 100). The listing of the top 100 works includes operas by Philip Glass, Tom Waits, Jake Heggie, John Adams, Andre Previn, Carlisle Floyd, Mark Adamo, and Kirke Mechem. The tables of operas by living composers can be found here (top 100), and here (all 861 operas).
Further information
For any further information, please contact Mike Gibb at operabase.mike@gmail.comIf you write about the material in this press release, or deduce more facts or observations, or create infographics for the data, please let us know.
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Operadata
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