The Royal Albert Hall Selects Tessitura Software.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2004

The Royal Albert Hall extensively reviewed ticketing and fundraising system functionality needs before selecting Tessitura(R) for box office operations, fundraising, reporting, marketing and customer relations management. In selecting Tessitura Software, the Royal Albert Hall joins over sixty leading North American and British arts organizations including The Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, City Center, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Opera, Houston Ballet, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Center Theatre Group.

Tessitura, originally developed by the Metropolitan Opera for its own use, was implemented in 1998 and is now widely used in the arts field. Smeeta Sharon, who is responsible for Business Operations at the Met, noted that, "The rapid acceptance of Tessitura by a growing number of arts organizations is highly gratifying. The Met designed Tessitura to enhance customer relationships and improve business practices by efficiently driving revenue transactions and boosting fundraising productivity. The end result is organizational improvement. We are pleased to share this powerful technology with other arts organizations through our Impresario, L.L.C. subsidiary and are thrilled to welcome the Royal Albert Hall to the group."

The Royal Albert Hall, a Grade 1 listed building opened in 1871, is one of the most famous concert and event venues in the world. Each year it hosts more than 330 performances including the BBC Proms, rock and pop concerts, ballet and opera, sporting events, charity concerts and fundraising galas, award ceremonies and national events such as the Festival of Remembrance.

The Hall has just completed an award-winning, eight-year building development program which equipped the Hall to meet the demanding requirements of more than 320 events each year and has transformed the experience of audiences and performers. Now completed, the Hall is able to invest in a new box office system, customer relationship management program and increased educational and programming initiatives.

David Elliott, Chief Executive said "The Hall's box office is one of the busiest and most complex in the U.K., selling over 1.2 million tickets for over 330 different events each year. After an extensive search of the market place, we have chosen Tessitura as the Hall's box office solution to enable us to improve our Customer Relationship Management and offer customers the best possible service. The strength of Tessitura is that it has been created by an organization, The Metropolitan Opera, which really understands as a major arts venue, that fully integrated ticketing, fundraising and marketing functionality is crucial in today's market. We are very excited about the new opportunities the software will provide."

Jack Rubin, business and marketing director for Tessitura and President of the Tessitura Network, Inc., commented, "The Royal Albert Hall, like many other licensees, selected Tessitura for its 'best of class' functionality in the arts enterprise software market and the attractiveness of our nonprofit business model. We are extremely proud to add an organization with the rich history and extensive programming of the Royal Albert Hall. Licensees have been rapidly switching from competitive box office and fundraising systems since 2000 when the Metropolitan Opera started offering their proprietary system to other arts organizations under license. Tessitura takes 'constituent management' to another level. Customer service is considerably enhanced, customer retention is improved and fund raising and marketing campaigns are able to be more targeted and efficient. Tessitura licensees also receive an integrated Internet interface that provides real time transaction capability with no fees whatsoever due to Impresario or any 3rd party company."

About Tessitura(R)

Tessitura is an enterprise software application that enables an integrated approach to "constituent management" for arts organizations. Using a single database of information, the system empowers the user organization to record, track and manage all contacts with its constituents, conduct highly targeted and cost-efficient marketing and fund raising appeals, handle all ticketing and membership transactions and provide detailed and flexible performance reports. Besides seamlessly providing efficient business, ticketing and development department operations, a key benefit of the system is its ability for relationship managers to have a full view of each constituent -- their history, preferences and all contacts with the institution. Tessitura is owned by Impresario, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Metropolitan Opera.

The Tessitura Network, Inc. is a nonprofit company established to further enhance Tessitura Software over time and to provide ongoing support and consulting services for Tessitura licensees. Licensees become "members" of the Tessitura Network once they start using Tessitura to process transactions for their organization.