Charlotte, N.C. | Oct. 12, 2016

A centuries-old art form meets the latest technology in a partnership between Opera Carolina and Tresata, a big-data software company. Charlotte-based Tresata is donating its software and helping Opera Carolina interpret their data to better understand how their patrons interact with the art form . Tresata’s next-generation predictive analytics applications will uncover insights about consumer patterns and help Opera Carolina run a more effective, efficient, and profitable enterprise.

“We are thrilled that Opera Carolina is using data to learn more about their audience and program especially for them,” said Abhishek Mehta, founder and CEO of Tresata, the country’s fastest growing predictive analytics software company. “They are thinking big. We applaud that vision. Together, we want to create an ‘intelligent’ industry model that can be shared with other arts groups around Charlotte and ultimately around the country.”

“Opera holds appeal for all generations,” he added. “Tresata’s powerful analytics applications has been applied specifically to help Opera Carolina create highly personalized, entertaining, and enriching experiences for not just existing patrons, but also future attendees who may not even know that the Opera provides exceptional entertainiment to match their tastes.”

“It’s very exciting for us to collaborate with Abhishek and his team at Tresata,” said Megan Miller, marketing director for Opera Carolina. “This partnership makes it possible for us to leverage our existing data, in combination with Tresata’s ‘machine learning’ software, to prepare predictive data analytics that help us learn about our patrons’ preferences, interests and the challenges we face as a cultural entertainment source in a city with many options.”

The Opera Carolina partnership represents Tresata’s first foray into the Arts. The company’s current and past clients are from the banking, retail, education and healthcare sectors.

Mehta said the true success of Tresata, which he founded more than five years ago, will be defined by, “what we can give back to the community.”

Tresata’s predictive analytics software will help Opera Carolina determine which patrons prefer light-hearted, serious or comedic operas vs. serious, often tragic, operas and determine individual preference for genre, composer, music, and performers.

“This software can even tell us, for instance, if a particular patron likes Puccini better than Wagner,” said Miller. “It’s that highly individualized. The software uses algorithms to identify people whose patterns of behavior – music and arts preferences – might mean that they would love opera and not even know it.”

“Tresata may be a pioneers in ‘big data,’ but the information they’re able to provide us gets into minutiae,” she added. “It will help us develop a highly targeted and efficient marketing program that engages and meets consumer wants and needs.”

Opera Carolina’s 2016/17 season opens with The Barber of Seville (Oct. 22, 27 and 30), a madcap romp involving false identities and a busybody, matchmaking barber. Multiple suitors are vying for the same woman’s affections in a slapstick opera that’s so embedded in pop culture, it’s been lovingly lampooned by Bugs Bunny.

Next up on Jan. 22, 26 and 28 is La Traviata, Verdi’s timeless story of a love that’s forbidden because of class differences. (And doomed because the heroine is dying of consumption.) It was the precursor to Pretty Woman and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!

The season ends with an operatic take on a Western. In La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West), Puccini gives an American twist to an ancient Italian art form. A poker player falls for a saloon-owning lady during the California Gold Rush. It’s as if High Noon or Gunsmoke had been set to soaring music. The good time happens April 23, 27 and 29.

All mainstage performances are at the Belk Theater, North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. Season subscriptions are available by calling 704.332.7177, ext. 1. Single tickets for all three operas are on sale now through the Performing Arts Center Box Office at 704.372.1000 or via operacarolina.org. Season subscriptions begin at $90, and single tickets start at just $21.

About Opera Carolina
Founded in 1948 by the Charlotte Music Club as a small group of volunteers, today Opera Carolina is the largest professional opera company in the Carolinas with an operating budget of more than $2.8 million for the fiscal year 2017.

The mission of Opera Carolina is to inspire the region’s diverse community through the presentation of Opera, Operetta and Education programs that elevate the quality of life in the Carolinas. Opera Carolina has a commitment to artistic excellence and community service. www.operacarolina.org

About Tresata
Tresata builds next-generation predictive analytics applications that automate the discovery of knowledge. This software allows enterprises to use all their data to get, grow and keep customers and runs in Apache Hadoop, the leading open source data analytics platform. Tresata is recognized as the leader in the rapidly emerging Big Data sector offering analytics applications that help enterprises monetize big data™ and is the fastest growing analytics company in America. Learn more at tresata.ai.