At Opera Philadelphia, you can now have any seat in the house for $11

These days, $11 doesn’t buy much — a movie ticket or maybe a couple of cappuccinos.

But now it’ll get you a night at the opera.

Opera Philadelphia is instituting a new system this season in which ticket buyers set their own price of $11 or more.

Last season, tickets ran between $25 and $299. Under the new system, which debuted Tuesday, patrons can buy tickets at various levels from $11 to $300. The pricing applies to every opera, all performance times, and any seat — and for online, phone, and in-person sales.

The new policy — which Opera Philadelphia says is unique among major American opera companies — is the first big move from Anthony Roth Costanzo since taking over as president and general director in June.

“I think we can confidently say that there’s a price barrier, from all kinds of data, for who comes to the opera and who doesn’t,” said Costanzo, 42. “When I go into schools and I’ve sung for kids, it transforms a couple of them and they go home and say to their parents, ‘I want to go to the opera,’ and the parents can’t afford to go see the opera. It really changes the demographic of who’s there.”

The new pricing system is also aimed at opera newbies or those unfamiliar with a particular opera who hesitate buying a ticket at one price, but who might risk it at a lower price.

“If I’m new to something, I don’t necessarily want to spend a lot of money trying it out. And so I think it opens up the opera in a lot of ways,” said Costanzo, the renowned countertenor who took over from president and general director David B. Devan at the end of last season.

Why $11, and not a nice, even $10 or $15? The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. assesses a $6-per-ticket surcharge for tickets more than $10, and so $11 was the lowest price Opera Philadelphia could offer while preserving that income stream for its landlord.

Of course, lower ticket prices bring risk for Opera Philadelphia, which has been on shaky financial ground. It likely means a drop in total ticket revenue. But opera companies all over are becoming more dependent on philanthropy, as is Opera Philadelphia, a trend illustrated by another one of Costanzo’s moves since taking over: He has raised $7 million in new donations.

The money is being used to pay off about $4 million in debt accrued in the 2023-24 season, and will help fund Opera Philadelphia’s premiere of The Listeners by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, which opens the season in September.

“When I took office on June 1, what I discovered was, after a lot of work looking underneath various carpets, The Listeners is the most expensive opera production Opera Philadelphia has ever done,” Costanzo said. “So that was a top heavy season we were front-loaded with, plus there were shortfalls and unpaid bills. What that all added up to was about $4 million beyond projections of contributed revenue that already were in place that I had to come up with in order to make it through The Listeners.”

Some of the dozens of donors who make up the $7 million are current donors, such as board members; others are lapsed donors who have been re-engaged, and others still are new — “in one particular case in a major way,” Costanzo said, declining to name that donor for now.

Still more money must be raised, he said.

“We have a long way to go. I want to make that clear. I mean, this is great news that we’ve canceled the debt, but we are just at the beginning of what we need to build the future.”

Costanzo says millions more is needed to get Opera Philadelphia through the season. He isn’t sure how many millions more; the 2024-25 budget is currently being reworked. A reorganization is on the way, he said.

“We have to create sustainability and even a cushion that starts with the excitement around pick-your-price and then continues into the art that we’re gonna program, and that we can responsibly live within our means and still be at the forefront of innovation. This is chapter one of a long-term turnaround story.”

One big question mark surrounds the future of Festival O, the concentrated fall festival format around which the company has built its season and funding in recent years. The festival won’t be happening this season, but Costanzo says he’s working toward a plan that will “keep the spirit of everything that Festival O represents as we incorporate it into a slightly new structure.”

An announcement is expected in late fall, he said.

And what about opera itself — the genre — and how it will be defined at Opera Philadelphia during the Costanzo era?

“I think people are ready for me to say, ‘I won’t do any of the great works of the canon.’ And in fact, that’s not the case,” he says. “I love opera. I’ve been immersed in it for 33 years and I love the canon. But how are we reimagining it? How are we thinking about it differently? Those are all things that I’m really committed to, as well as generating new work and reviving forgotten works.”

Audiences may not see a big change in the titles programmed at Opera Philadelphia. The packaging and presentation, however, will be different, Costanzo promises.

“As I build these new models and think about what’s sustainable, [it] is based on a collaborative relationship, whether it’s with an artist, whether it’s with a fashion designer, whether it’s with a museum, a dance company — someone who comes in and is given the tools to really to understand the art form and see it through their lens. So, I think we’re going to be expanding most people’s idea of what opera is through collaboration.”

Information: 215-732-8400 or operaphila.org.