Opera Theatre of St. Louis has tallied all the ticket receipts for its 2009 season that closed last Sunday and has good news in bad economic times.

The company's 35th season broke previous records to deliver the “highest ever revenue at the box office,” OTSL general director Timothy O’Leary told supporters Friday. That was achieved even though the company refrained from increasing ticket prices. Attendance increased, a cumulative 5.5 percent increase since two seasons ago in 2008 when the economy was still strong.

Many in the arts worry about a graying audience with fewer newcomers. While Opera Theatre does not count greybeards or greenhorns, its figures show that about 22 percent of the audience had not bought tickets to OTSL productions before. The company has made marketing efforts to widen its pool of supporters. Ticket sales showed a 7 percent increase of newcomers following the 15 percent increase in newbies in 2009.

Of the festival’s 28 performances, eight sold out, he reported. Overall attendance was 90 percent of total capacity for the season.

Many opera buffs returned to see an opera production they especially liked a second or third time during the festival. At least one man saw all 28 as he has for all 35 seasons. Audience members came from 47 states and eight foreign countries. Despite tight budgets at newspapers and online publication, writers from 15 national and international print and online publications wrote about the season. A few paid their own transportation here.

There’s no rest for the weary OTSL staff in the Sally Levy Opera Center. Sales for the 2010 subscriptions go on sale this month. The 2011 season kicking off next May will feature Mozart's “Don Giovanni,” Donizetti's “The Daughter of the Regiment,” Debussy’s “Pelléas and Mélisande” and John Adams' cruise ship tragedy taken from the 1985 front pages “The Death of Klinghoffer.”