Operabase

Operabase is an online global database for audiences and professionals. It lists details on opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers as well as their agents. It was founded in 1996¹ by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb. Initially a hobby site, it became his full-time occupation after three years. Opera magazine describes the Operabase website as "the most comprehensive source of data on operatic activity". Gibb sold Operabase to Truelinked in 2018. The company was then bought by Arts Consolidated (headquartered in Denmark) and relaunched in 2021. In September 2026, Arts Consolidated ApS's Operabase was acquired by Events.com, a US-based events-technology company, though it continues to be operated from Copenhagen. The management team is led by Bharani Vasudev Setlur (Chief Executive Officer), who succeeded Ulrike Köstinger in September 2026; other members of the management team include Peter Palludan (Chief Technology Officer).

Operabase is an online global database for audiences and professionals. It lists details on opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers as well as their agents. It was founded in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb. Initially a hobby site, it became his full-time occupation after three years. Opera magazine describes the Operabase website as "the most comprehensive source of data on operatic activity". Gibb sold Operabase to Truelinked in 2018. The company was then bought by Arts Consolidated (headquartered in Denmark) and relaunched in 2021. In September 2026, Arts Consolidated ApS's Operabase was acquired by Events.com, a US-based events-technology company, though it continues to be operated from Copenhagen. The management team is led by Bharani Vasudev Setlur (Chief Executive Officer), who succeeded Ulrike Köstinger in September 2026; other members of the management team include Peter Palludan (Chief Technology Officer). ==History== ==Public website== The database was operated by Gibb and Muriel Denzler. As has been noted by Gibb and Denzler in an article on the website of Opera Europa (the European opera service organisation similar to those which exist in the US and Canada, Opera America and Opera.ca) they provide specialised services to opera professionals, with the site including "casting tools, artist records, management details, productions information". But they emphasise that "the site was originally created for the general public, who still provide 96% of its users". Operabase is now available in 34 languages and provides services to opera professionals for a fee, although the site is searchable by any web user at no charge. ==Professional website== The professional services are available to companies, festivals, opera houses, theatres, orchestras, choruses, agencies, artists, academia and journalists. The site remains searchable by any web users at no charge. ==Statistics== In autumn 2010, Operabase produced a set of statistics to mark the 250,000th performance on file. These statistics were presented at the third European Opera Forum, organised by Opera Europa in London in March 2011. In autumn 2013, the statistics were updated to show the 2012/13 season figures. The Operabase rankings of the most performed operas formed the basis of a set of music questions in an edition of the BBC's University Challenge, broadcast in July 2014¹. Competitors were asked to identify three operas in the Operabase list from sound clips of Maria Callas. ===Most played composers=== In the five seasons 2008/09 to 2012/13, 2415 different works from 1161 different composers were played. The most popular composers were: Giuseppe Verdi, with 2,586 performances of 28 operas Giacomo Puccini, with 1,893 performances of 12 operas Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Richard Wagner Gioachino Rossini More than 600 of the composers played in this period were still alive. The most frequently programmed of these were Philip Glass, Hans Werner Henze, and John Adams. Kaija Saariaho was the most played female composer, living or dead. ===Most popular operas=== Throughout the 2015/16 season the most popular operas overall were: La traviata (1853, Verdi) with 4190 performances over 869 runs Die Zauberflöte (1791, Mozart) with 3310 performances over 561 runs Carmen (1875, Bizet) with 3280 performances over 691 runs La bohème (1896, Puccini) with 3131 performances over 672 runs Tosca (1900¹, Puccini) with 2694 performances over 608 runs The most popular operas by composers from the 20th century (i.e., by composers born after 1900) were The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934, Dmitri Shostakovich). The most popular works by composers alive on 31 July 2012 were the monodrama The Diary of Anne Frank (composed 1968, Grigory Frid), and the opera Dead Man Walking (2000, Jake Heggie). ==References==

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376113138 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.