Last week a two-day seminar with lecturer Nicholas Payne took place at the Sofia Opera and Ballet.

Mr. Payne is a financier, a long-time director of various opera houses in the UK such as the Welsh National Opera, Opera North and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. For many years Nicholas Payne has also been a director of Opera Europa, an organisation whose members include 215 opera companies and festivals from 43 countries.

The seminar for the Sofia Opera team was on "Business strategies, goals and priorities in contemporary opera theatre".

"Change is our friend!" – with these words began the meeting with Nicholas Payne, who is a financier by profession.

He shared various cases from his career about the organization of processes in the opera house, ticket and subscription sales, opera season programming, unexpected situations, termination of contracts, etc.

The Sofia Opera team actively participated with questions and comments on the various panels in the workshop, which included discussions on program selection, audience education, long-term strategies and planning. Mr. Payne was pleased to note the tremendous achievements of the Sofia Opera in repertoire and artistic terms, but also in the development of marketing and advertising strategies. "Change is our friend!"

Nicholas Payne was in Sofia at the invitation of Acad. Plamen Kartaloff and was exceptionally satisfied with his visit to the Sofia Opera.