DR Friends of DR
Open letter to the Friends Association
About problems with buying seats for dress rehearsals.
The association was a good offer for pensioners and young people with weak finances, for example.
It's about DR Koncerthuset's dress rehearsals for Thursday concerts, which are usually held on Thursday mornings, and which used to be a free offer. After all, they are rehearsals, often without a continuous programme, with interruptions and corrections of course. But here the average person could get a taste of the great classics.
It's not like that anymore. An annual subscription now costs 250kr for pensioners, and you're no longer allowed to bring a partner unless they are also registered and have paid 250kr. This was changed a few years ago.
There are typically two dress rehearsals in autumn and two in spring. It then costs 90kr for a seat.
However, securing a ticket to this limited show is chaotic.
Autumn tickets, well max 300 seats (understandably halved due to Corona) were announced for online sale 20/10 at 10.00.
I knew the terms and conditions, but was nevertheless overwhelmed, like many others, when the system immediately broke down because hundreds of hopefuls were clicking on the same seats. However, it was clear that the seats disappeared before twenty minutes had passed.
I only managed to get a ticket for one of the two concerts, and I predict the same can happen in the spring.
This means that two dress rehearsals cost me 430kr or 215kr each. The cheapest ticket to a real concert costs 330kr. It doesn't add up.
The Friends' handling of ticket sales is, in my opinion, quite unworthy of this otherwise honourable institution.
Therefore, I would encourage DR Koncerthuset to rethink how and on what financial terms attendance at dress rehearsals is organised.
Ole Ejnar Hansen, Brønshøj, Denmark
Dear Ole Ejnar Jensen
Thank you for your open letter. You describe an issue that a few other of our members have raised in connection with the special conditions that apply especially due to the restrictions surrounding the Corona pandemic. Combined with the price increases DR has implemented on rehearsal tickets.
We don't have to answer for DR, but the explanation from here is that they have to charge a ticket price that covers the costs - otherwise you use licence fees for this purpose, and the state-owned institution is not allowed to do that. So these are rules that we can't do anything about.
In addition, you do the maths and conclude that it's not financially viable to go to rehearsals instead of buying (the cheapest) tickets for the concerts themselves. You forget that the restrictions also affect the concerts themselves.
The board must also distance itself from your maths. Our articles of association clearly state that our purpose is to support DR's choirs and orchestras - including the musicians and singers. This means that as many membership fees as possible should go towards that support. We are not and should not be a ticket agency, but an association of dedicated supporters and lovers of the music that the choirs and orchestras perform at the highest professional level.
That's why it's wrong to confuse the membership fee with the tickets - both pricing and handling - which is solely DR's business.
That said, we at the association also regret the current conditions and look forward to normality as soon as possible.
In addition, the board is in close and ongoing contact with the management of the Concert Hall and the ensembles. In these contacts, the board works diligently to ensure the best possible conditions for our members.
Sincerely yours
The board of directors of the Friends Organisation
Mogens Rubinstein
Chairman