By Matt Heller
All sell-outs are not created equal. Venue capacities vary, comp tickets may paper over gaps, and there are shifting definitions for what percentage even constitutes a “sold-out concert”. Still, musicians know a good house when we see one – and we love seeing them.
Recently, I heard about two Edmonton Symphony concerts that were programmed at the last minute, to replace a new opera project that unfortunately had to be withdrawn. The replacement concerts were led by the ESO’s string players, featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony (arrangement of String Quartet no. 8 for string orchestra), and both were just about sold out. This led me to ask OCSM Delegates:
Question: Which concerts have sold out (or sold particularly well) so far this season?
Regina Symphony:
- Handel’s Messiah
- Love Notes (Regina Symphony Chamber Players); Two performances on Valentine’s Day, including selections by Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Ravel, Borodin, Mozetich, and Bizet
I have been asked to include that the RSO’s movie presentation of Home Alone and ABBA Pops were both ‘very close’ to selling out – ABBA breaking a 5-year attendance record. More generally, the RSO is reportedly on track to double ticket sales year over year – not sure when a Canadian orchestra last achieved that.
– RSO Delegate Simon Fryer
Symphony Nova Scotia
We don't have any technical sell-outs this season but here are some that came close:
- Mozart and Beethoven: 86% sold
- Natalie McMaster featuring Mary Frances Leahy: both nights approximately 90% sold
- Nutcracker: 87-91% sold over six performances
- Vivaldi Meets the Middle East: 95% sold out of 500 seats available (we really packed them in for that one and upped our capacity at St. Andrews Church)
- Magnificent Mozart: 91% sold
– SNS Delegate Rachel Desoer
Hamilton Philharmonic
- Valentine’s Day with Dwayne Gretzky
– HPO Delegate Jessie Brooks
National Ballet of Canada
- The Nutcracker, December 5 to 31, 2025 (33 performances)
– NBOC Delegate Maria Pelletier
Winnipeg Symphony
- Volodin Plays Tchaikovsky
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2 (2 nights)
- International Cello Festival of Canada Grand Finale
- Symphony in the South (2 nights)
- How to Train Your Dragon (2 nights)
- Handel’s Messiah
- From the Inside Out (3 nights)
- Studio Ghibli
- Winnipeg New Music Festival Concerts 2 & 4
- Brawl at the Hall
- Murdock Mysteries
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (2 nights)
- James Bond Casino Royal
- Stewart Copeland
For our Classics concerts with a soloist, we do not open the second balcony. The orchestra has to be so far forward on the stage to be heard by the audience that anyone in the second balcony cannot see the soloist. So this reduces our capacity by 341. Had we been able to fill both balconies, two of those 21 concerts may not have been sold out.
Also, this season we have a number of concerts with smaller capacities to begin with. Examples: Desautels Concert Hall (Symphony in the South - 400), the MCCC Stage (for Inside Out), 201 Portage (WNMF2 - 80). Six sold out concerts fell in this category.
– WSO Delegate Alex Whitehead
Montreal Symphony
Concerts passés :
- Concert d’ouverture La damnation de Faust (Berlioz)
- Gratuit (aperçu de la saison) OSM360
- POP Salebarbes rencontre l’OSM
- Le chant du cygne de Mahler (Mahler 9)
- Jeux d’enfants Des bonbons ou un sort!
- Orgue Le fantôme de l’opéra
- Gratuit Finale du concours de l’OSM
- Ciné-concert 2001 : L’Odyssée de l’espace
- Una Voce avril La Symphonie « Pathétique » de Tchaïkovski
- De L’Europe au cinéma
- Le Messie : Alléluia!
- Le traditionnel conte des Fêtes de Fred Pellerin
- Orgue Stellaire : l’orgue fait son cirque
- POP Pérusse symphonique
- La musique de Harry Potter
- Les Noces de Figaro (version concert avec mise en scène partielle)
- Jeux d’enfants Le Carnaval de l’OSM
Concerts à venir (complets ou presque) :
- Le Requiem Allemand par Kent Nagano
- L’intense Symphonie « Leningrad » de Chostakovitch
- Le Sacre du printemps
- POP Hermanos Gutiérrez en concert
- Heroes : Symphonie de jeux vidéo
– OSM Delegate Stéphane Lévesque
Saskatoon Symphony
- Christmas Classics at the Cathedral
- Time for Toddlers series – 4 programs intended for 2-4 year olds
- Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in concert
- “Everything is Romantic” Valentine’s Day Concert, featuring Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with Angela Cheng
- Near sell-outs: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Handel’s Messiah
– SSO Delegate Lillian Jen-Payzant