Organisers of this year’s “Pafos Aphrodite Festival” have seen a last-minute rush for ticket sales for the opera next month for the famous romantic melodrama “La Cenerentola” (Cinderella) by Gioachino Rossini, due to an improvement in the economic situation that had affected attendance in 2013 and 2014.
This year’s opera, the 17th so far, will be held at the medieval castle in the harbour on September 4, 5 and 6 with a team of acclaimed artists hailing from the French lyrical group, Ramfis Productions Avignon, joined by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra for the third year in a row.
The side stands have the seats that sell the fastest, said a spokesperson for the organisers. Tickets at €25 to 50 are still available online at http://tickets.pafc.com.cy/opera/ while tickets for the central stands are selling for €40 to 70, she said.
Hotels, that are partners together with all the Paphos municipalities in the non-profit company that hosts the opera each year, are also selling tickets directly through their own reservation systems as many are offering short-stay packages, with lavish opera-themed dinners and transfers. Other hotels are offering a single night bed and breakfast rate, including opera tickets, starting from €59 per person.
The most popular nights for the opera, that accommodates 7,000 people over the three-day event, are the premier on Friday (September 4) and on the Saturday, with the Sunday event regarded as a more relaxed and performance.
Some 40% of ticket sales are from overseas, including direct sales and packages pre-sold to tour operators, with the best sales coming from Germany, while the remaining 60% of ticket sales are traditionally from local residents, Cypriots or foreign, who buy the ticket online or reserve them and pay at the box office.
Coming out of the economic crisis, corporate ticket buyers are also returning this year to complement the main sponsors Ministry of Culture and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, as well as forex company Banc De Binary.
This year’s opera will also be milestone for Paolo Panizza who will direct the event for the third year, while Massimo Taddia will conduct the orchestra. A team of Cypriot choristers will accompany the lyric choir “Amintore Galli” from the Italian city of Rimini.
Paphos Mayor Fedonas Fedonos, ex-officio President of the board of the organiseing company, said that in the past 17 years, Paphos and Cyprus have left their own mark on the cultural map of Europe, highlighted by the fact that the town has been designated as Cultural Capital of Europe for 2017.
This year’s sponsors also include the Shacolas Group, the Kanika Hotels Group, that will provide catering and host the VIP stand, and media sponsors MyDestinationCyprus the DIAS group with Sigma television.
More information about the opera is also available at http://www.pafc.com.cy/
