All news
Tsiskaridze called theater ticket prices abnormal
According to RBC on MTS Live, the average cost of tickets in Russian cinemas in September-October 2024, when the new season begins, increased by 14% compared to the same period in 2023. Tsiskaridze called the price an abnormal situation.
Director of the Agrippina Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet Nikolai Tsiskaridze called the situation abnormal, stating that the prices of theatre tickets should not correspond to a person’s salary.
"Today it seems that only the very rich can afford to visit our large theaters, because the prices do not satisfy me as a viewer. But getting tickets to the theater is always difficult <...>. A concert ticket does not cost as much as a person's salary. This is not normal. I do not support this," he said at a lecture held as part of the educational marathon "Knowledge. First of all" (quoted by RIA Novosti).
Tsiskaridze noted that when he was an artist at the Bolshoi Theatre, there were no free seats in the hall. "It's very sad to come now and see that the queues are empty. People can't buy tickets. The main ticket went to a speculator on Theatre Square. "It's very sad," he added.
The People's Artist also emphasized that the main theaters of Russia are budgetary state institutions and therefore receive support, including through taxes paid by Russians.
In September-October 2024, when the new season begins, the average ticket price in Russian theaters increased by 14% compared to the same months of 2023, reaching 24,000 rubles. Such data was provided to RBC in early October by MTS Live, one of the largest ticket aggregators (which, according to its own data, occupies a third of the concert and theater ticket market). The increase is even more noticeable compared to expenses at the beginning of the 2022 theater season. This is as much as 17%. The average ticket price to individual Moscow theaters increased by 9% compared to 2023 and by 21% compared to 2022. At the beginning of October, the cost of visiting the capital's theaters averaged 32 thousand rubles.
According to MTS Live, the top five largest theaters in Russia by the number of tickets sold at the beginning of the 2024 season include the State Academic Theater of the same name; Evgeniya Vakhtangov, the Moscow Youth Palace, the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop, the Moscow Academic Theater. Vl. Named after Mayakovsky and the Bolshoi Drama Theater. G.A. Tovstonogov.
RBC and the ticket service Kassir.ru reported that the growth in theater ticket prices is slow. According to their data, the average ticket price in Russia for the new 2024 season will be 210 thousand rubles, which is 8% more than last year and 30% by 2022. The same figure in Moscow is 38,000 rubles with a growth rate of 11% year-on-year and 33% by 2022. Kassir.ru CEO Elena Glukhovskaya said that if you look at theaters in cities with a population of over a million, the average cost of performances has increased by 18% compared to last year.
Rosstat data in absolute values differ significantly from the aggregator's statistics. The average price of a theater ticket in January-August 2024 was 972 rubles, for the same months of 2023 - 883 rubles. The indicators of the new theater season in September are not yet reflected in the statistics. At the same time, in general, the dynamics of price growth are similar to those recorded in the ticket services sector, reaching 10% year-on-year and 17% by 2022.