´óÏó´«Ã½

Booking for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms 2011 opened today and 85,921 tickets were sold within the first 12 hours.

This is a 7.39% increase compared with last year, when 80,000 tickets were allocated during the first day (which included one extra hour of booking). 39,348 individual orders for tickets were processed, compared with 36,406 in 2010, showing that more people than ever are being enticed by the broad range of concerts on offer at the Proms.

71,808 tickets were sold online, while the remainder were purchased by music-lovers who used telephone or postal booking, or went to the Royal Albert Hall in person.

The introduction of a new, fairer and fully integrated live booking system in 2010 helped the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms secure record attendances across last year's festival. In total 313,000 tickets were sold in 2010.

Roger Wright, Director, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms and Controller, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3, says: "The Proms remain the world's largest music festival and the demand for tickets on the first day of booking has been extremely high. We're delighted that so many people have been able to get their tickets successfully and look forward to welcoming them to the Proms this summer. It's worth reminding people that there are still tickets available for the vast majority of events and also encourage them to try for returns, come and Prom on the day, or listen and watch on the ´óÏó´«Ã½."

All seated tickets for Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (5 August) sold out within three hours, quickly followed by Verdi's Requiem (24 July). Seated tickets for Havergal Brian's gargantuan The Gothic Symphony (17 July) have also now sold out – though up to 1,400 £5 Promming tickets are released on the day of each concert. Tickets for the vast majority of other events are still available.

Jasper Hope, Chief Operating Officer, Royal Albert Hall, said: "After the incredible success of last year's launch of the Hall's online ticketing system for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms, we are very pleased to see even more people this year having taken advantage of the opportunity to buy tickets on the first day.  The Proms has always been about bringing the very best classical music to the widest number of people and we're delighted to have proved not only our ability to host the festival but also to facilitate the enormous undertaking of ticketing it in such a fair way and to so many."

MC4