One Reason We'll Miss David Gockley

San Francisco Opera has announced its audited financial results for FY2014, the 2013-14 season, they are excellent: there was a deficit of $348,244 on an operating budget of $74,119,493, which is such a small deficit (about one-half of one percent) that it amounts to breaking even.

Further details, from the press release:

Total operating revenue for FY14 rose from $30,808,345 to $37,013,042 with income from ticket sales for FY14 at $22,674,340 compared to the prior season (FY13) at $19,785,866. The increase in earned income was due in part to the popularity of the season repertory including Show Boat, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly and Mefistofele. Contributions to the FY14 Annual Fund reflected a slight decrease of less than 1% from the previous year, coming to $36,758,207 in financial support from approximately 7,600 donors. At the close of FY14 on July 31, 2014, the Company’s endowment was valued at $164,698,210 reflecting an increase of 11.5% over the previous year’s balance of $147,754,431 as of July 31, 2013.

Note some other reasons we'll miss Mr. Gockley:

• Income from ticket sales went up by nearly $3 million over the previous year
• The endowment increased by $17 million, or 11.5%