General Terms & Conditions for ticket sales

Scope
These General Terms & Conditions govern the legal relationship between Opernhaus Zürich AG (Zurich Opera House) and its clients and visitors to performances and events at Zurich Opera House. By acquiring a ticket or entering into a subscription contract, the client is deemed to have agreed to these Terms & Conditions. Furthermore, subscription holders are also subject to the Terms & Conditions applicable to subscriptions.

These Terms & Conditions also apply to events organised by third parties (external organisers) on the premises of Zurich Opera House. Diverging agreements made between external organisers and visitors to the Opera House must be approved by Zurich Opera House.

Advance ticket sales/ticket sales
Advance ticket sales for a season begin on the dates specified in Zurich Opera House’s seasonal brochure and other publications. Detailed conditions applicable to advance ticket sales, including prices and payment methods, are governed by Zurich Opera House’s relevant publications.

Zurich Opera House reserves the right to restrict the number of tickets available to each person. For group orders, please contact the Box Office.

Separate rules of sale apply to People’s Performances: advance ticket sales for People’s Performances begin one month before the date of the performance. If the day on which sales begin falls on a Sunday or public holiday, advance ticket sales shall begin on the prior working day. A maximum of four (4) tickets may be purchased per person.

Orders/reservations/purchases
Reserved tickets must be paid for by the deadline communicated when the tickets were reserved. Once this deadline has elapsed, the reservation shall expire. A fee of CHF 5 per order shall be charged for sending tickets by post or when they are collected from the Box Office.

In the case of online reservations, paid tickets can be printed out at home as pdf files free of charge. A fee of CHF 5 per order shall be charged for subsequent delivery by post or for printing out tickets at the Box Office.

The purchase agreement comes into binding effect when the tickets have been paid for in full – in the case of online ticket sales, by clicking the “Confirm order” field after the client has selected specific seats for a specific performance – and the client and credit card data have been entered. Once purchased, tickets can neither be returned nor exchanged. Expired tickets will not be replaced.

Any commercial resale of purchased tickets is forbidden without the prior permission of Zurich Opera House.

Tickets shall be paid for in Swiss francs. Any fees incurred as a result of bank transfers shall be borne by the client.

Commission orders
The client has the option of placing a commission order for tickets acquired from Zurich Opera House. Tickets can thus once again be offered for regular sale (also online) by Zurich Opera House.

The client can deposit his/her ticket at the Zurich Opera House Box Office. The ticket will be cancelled promptly in the sales system and released for resale. These so-called commission seats are offered for sale by Zurich Opera House in the same way as all other free seats, and shall not be marked or handled separately.

The client shall receive written notification as to whether the ticket has been sold or not within 14 days of the performance in question. If the ticket has been sold, the client shall receive a credit to the personal customer account of the amount paid for the ticket, minus a commission fee of CHF 10 per ticket.

Once tickets have been released for resale, commission orders cannot be revoked. No information or progress reports shall be given with regard to current commission orders.

Discounts
Discounts shall be granted to eligible persons on presentation of a relevant, valid identity card. Without proof of eligibility by means of a valid, dated photo ID, no discounts shall be granted. Individual discounts cannot be accumulated. In principle, fees are not eligible for discounts.

Some discounted tickets can be acquired only by telephone or in person at the Zurich Opera House Box Office.

Zurich Opera House reserves the right to restrict or preclude the sale of discounted tickets for certain venues, events or price categories. Furthermore, Zurich Opera House can alter discount rates at any time.

Lost tickets
Should a client lose his/her ticket, a duplicate can be issued by the Box Office if the client can convincingly explain which ticket he/she acquired in advance. The holder of the original ticket has priority over the holder of the duplicate.

Seating capacity
Seating capacity is restricted to the seats indicated in the internet. Zurich Opera House reserves the right to alter the seating plan and allocate clients equivalent or near-equivalent seats if the alteration to the seating plan means that the seats reserved are no longer available.

All boxes are equipped with chairs. From the second row, these are raised. All other seats are upholstered armchairs.

Gift Cards
Zurich Opera House gift cards are valid for five years from the date of issue and can be recharged. The gift cards can be redeemed for personal, telephone or online bookings. For online redemption, the credit balance on the card must be at least as high as the amount to be paid.
For the redemption of older paper vouchers, the physical delivery of the original voucher is mandatory.

Lost gift cards or vouchers will not be replaced.

Box Office opening hours
The Box Office and advance telephone sales office are open at the times indicated in Zurich Opera House’s publications. In the case of special campaigns or dates of sale, online sales begin at the same time as the Box Office opens.

The Box Office opens 90 minutes before the beginning of performances, and 60 minutes beforehand for small-scale performances not given on the main stage. Ticket sales for the afternoon or evening performance in question shall take precedence at the Box Office, especially if there is a risk that the said performance may otherwise be delayed.

Recordings made by Zurich Opera House
Zurich Opera House frequently makes audio-visual or photographic recordings of performances. The client agrees that such recordings may be televised, released on DVD, and published as photographs in digital or other form, even if the client is recognisable in such recordings.

Visual and sound recordings
For copyright and privacy reasons, visitors are not permitted to make visual or sound recordings of performances and events at Zurich Opera House. Violations can lead, among other things, to claims for damages, and the client or clients who violate this provision can be excluded from the performance without any claim to reimbursement of their ticket(s).

Programme and starting times
Zurich Opera House reserves the right to cancel performances, replace them with other works, and to alter the time or cast, even after advance ticket sales have begun. The definitive starting times can be found on the Opera House website. If a performance is cancelled or replaced by another work, or if the date of a performance is changed, or if, after the number of seats has been reduced and the client cannot be allocated another seat, he/she shall be entitled to the refund of the purchase price.

In the event of changes to the cast or the starting time of a performance, no claims can be made for a refund of the ticket price.

Zurich Opera House assumes no responsibility for information given on posters or other publications.

Performances
As a rule, the foyers open one hour before performances begin.

A valid ticket or season ticket pass and, in the case of discounted tickets, a relevant ID card, must be shown to the ushers unrequested. Discounted tickets are valid only when displayed together with a relevant authorisation pass. If no valid identity card can be shown to the ushers, the difference to the full price must be paid at the evening Box Office.

The printed pdf tickets acquired via print@home sales are also considered valid. However, tickets verified in electronic form are considered invalid, as are tickets that are badly damaged, no longer legible, forged or copied.

Clients without valid tickets shall not be admitted to any performances.

Once a performance has begun, for security reasons and in the interest of the performing artists as well as the audience, clients arriving late shall be admitted only during spontaneous applause and/or scene changes. In such cases, clients have no claim to the seat(s) they have purchased, and must obey ushers’ instructions with regard to the point of entry. Clients have no claim to be reimbursed for the ticket price.

Cancellation or discontinuation of performances
If a performance is cancelled without being substituted, the ticket price shall be refunded, as long as the tickets are sent or brought back to the Box Office, together with a paying-in slip or the indication of an IBAN number, within 30 days of the date of the performance.

Should a performance be discontinued, ticket holders shall be entitled to a refund of the ticket price only if the performance is discontinued before the first interval, or in the case of a performance without an interval, before half the planned duration of the performance has elapsed. Claims should be asserted in the same way as in the case of cancelled performances.

For both cancellation and discontinuation of performances, only the ticket price shall be reimbursed. Beyond this, no other client expenses or damages shall be refunded.

Cloakrooms/Lost property
Cloakroom items (coats, umbrellas, large bags, bulky items) must be handed over to cloakroom staff before the performance and may not be taken into the auditorium. Clients receive cloakroom tokens for their cloakroom items. The cloakroom fee is included in the ticket price.

On submission of the cloakroom token, cloakroom items will be handed over to the holder of the token, without verifying his/her right to them. Cloakroom staff must be notified immediately if the wrong items are handed over, or if property is lost or damaged.

Without a cloakroom token, cloakroom items can be returned only if the visitor can prove or reliably explain the he/she is the legitimate recipient.

By issuing cloakroom tokens, Zurich Opera House accepts liability for loss or damage to cloakroom items only insofar as cloakroom staff have failed in their responsibility to safeguard the items entrusted to them, either by intention or through gross negligence. Liability is restricted to the current value of all deposited items. Zurich Opera House is not liable for consequential damages to such items, or for loss of profits. Excluded from liability are identity cards and certificates of all kinds, credit cards, cash, keys and valuables such as jewellery, electronic devices, etc., particularly if such items are left in coat pockets or other receptacles. Storage of such objects is expressly at clients’ own risk.

Lost property of all kinds can be handed over to ushers or cloakroom staff. Such items shall be deposited at the main Lost Property Office in the reception area of Zurich Opera House, where they shall be stored for three (3) months. If a client misses an item after attending a performance, he/she can ask in the reception area or at the staff entrance whether the said item has been found and handed in.

Domiciliary rights
Zurich Opera House exercises its domiciliary rights at all its venues, and is entitled to expel or ban offending parties from its premises, or to adopt any other appropriate measures, within the scope of its domiciliary rights. In particular, clients can be expelled from performances if they are disruptive, harass other members of the audience or have contravened these General Terms & Conditions in any other significant manner. Entry can also be refused if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the client will disrupt the performance or harass other members of the audience. In such cases, the ticket shall not be reimbursed.

The client has a claim to the seat indicated on his/her ticket. If he/she takes another seat, Zurich Opera House is entitled to charge any difference in price or to expel the him/her from the performance.

Mobile phones, pagers and acoustic signal transmitters of any kind may be taken into the auditorium only if switched off or silenced.

It is forbidden to take food and beverages into the auditorium and to consume them there.

Smoking is forbidden in all rooms at Zurich Opera House.

In the event of fire or other dangerous situations, the building must be evacuated immediately and without diversion via the designated exits and emergency exits. In such cases, cloakroom items shall not be distributed.

Visitors must obey the instructions of Zurich Opera House staff.

Liability
Zurich Opera House is liable for damages of any kind suffered by visitors to the premises of Zurich Opera House only in cases of negligent or intentional infringement of contractual obligations by its representatives and auxiliaries. Zurich Opera House accepts no liability for consequential damages or for loss of profits. Liability for injury to life, limb and health remains unaffected.

Data Protection
The processing of your data and the rights to which you are entitled in this context are governed by the Opernhaus Zürich Privacy Policy dated 04.07.2023. This forms an integral part of the General Terms and Conditions.
You can find the Privacy Policy here.

Applicable law/place of jurisdiction
Swiss law shall apply.
Place of execution and jurisdiction is the City of Zurich.

Opernhaus Zürich AG, August 2020