Opera Opportunity Outside the Box

Opera Santa Barbara has neatly transformed itself into an efficient juggernaut that seems to have made the company more sustainable, at least for the moment, by staging all of their opera productions twice at the Lobero, rather than ranging from the grand stage of the Granada to the Lobero and the intimate Center Stage theatre. The new approach has proven spectacularly successful so far, as all three of the 2024-25 shows sold out in advance, and were well-received and reviewed by audiences and journos alike. 

Now, in an effort to further encourage early ticket buying, the Opera is introducing something basically unheard of in show biz: Refundable tickets.

OSB has announced that all season ticket packages purchased before June 15 will be fully refundable until September 30. And if subscribers missed that deadline, they can receive refunds for tickets that are returned in time to be resold. (The option to donate back tickets you can’t use, or exchange them for future shows will, of course, remain in place.)

Kudos to Kostis Protopapas, OSB’s Artistic and General Director, for the creative idea. 

“As far as I can tell, we are the only company in the U.S. to offer refundable tickets,” Protopapas said. 

The idea is to secure enough sales to have production finances in hand as early as possible, which saves money in the long run. In this no-lose deal, subscribes not only get to lock in their seats, but can also change their mind up until mid-September; just six weeks before Cavalleria rusticana opens at the Lobero on November 7. That production will kick off the new season, which will end with OSB’s first modern effort in two years – Robert Aldridge’s 2007 opera Elmer Gantry.  

Visit www.operasb.org.