What is in the record, and at what level of detail

Operabase maintains a factual record of performances, productions, people and works across opera, classical music, ballet and dance, musical theatre and concert performance.

Performances

A record of a performance holds the date and time, the venue and city, the production it belonged to, the works performed, and the cast, creative team and ensembles credited for that performance. Where casts differ across a run, the record shows which artists appeared on which dates.

Productions

A production record carries the producing and presenting organisations, co-producers, staging type, premiere status, tour and guest performance status, a synopsis, media and ticketing links, and any reviews or press recorded against it.

People

A person's record carries their professions and voice type or instrument, their performance credits, role and house debuts, repertoire, and representation.

Works

A work's record carries its creators, its roles, its instrumentation, and the productions in which it has been performed.

Coverage

Coverage spans opera, classical music, ballet and dance, musical theatre and concert performance. Operabase is available in 31 languages.

Level of detail

The record is granular rather than a summary. A researcher can work at the level of a single performance, or aggregate across works, composers, organisations, cities, countries and seasons, for example to trace how a work's performance history has changed over time, how programming differs between countries, or how a career developed across houses.