If you are attending your first performance at Symphony Center, below are some answers to frequently asked questions that will help make your experience more enjoyable. You can speak with a Patron Services representative online via our web chat, over the phone by calling or by emailing Patron Services. When you select e-ticket as your delivery method during checkout, you will receive two emails.
The first is your order confirmation, which is the receipt for your order. Your e-ticket will be sent in a second email as a PDF attachment and should typically arrive within 10 minutes. If you have not received your e-ticket, check your spam filter or junk mail folder. Contact Patron Services for assistance if you are still unable to locate your ticket.
Most concert begin promptly at the scheduled start time. We recommend arriving at Symphony Center minutes before the concert start time. If you arrive late, you can listen to and view the concert on monitors located throughout Symphony Center.
During designated pauses in the music, there may be opportunities for late seating. Please note, late seating is at the discretion of house management and may not be available for all concerts and seating locations. The program length varies for every concert. Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances usually last about two hours, including one intermission.
This fall, however, concerts will run approximately 90 minutes without an intermission. Most other events run about the same length. Contact Patron Services about one week before a concert for specific timings. Patrons are welcome to take photos of their visit to Symphony Center and share them. However, audio and video recording is strictly prohibited during the performance itself.
Before the concert begins, please turn your cell phone or any other electronic device off or put it on silent mode.
You can take it to enjoy at your seat too—no need for brain freeze as you gulp it all down. We try to make concerts self-containing, meaning at the performance itself you will learn a little from your program book as well as from the Maestro as he sometimes briefly introduces the pieces from the stage.
If you want to study up ahead of time, we have multiple ways to help you do that:. Concerts vary in length depending on how long each piece is in the program, but usually range from about minutes. Generally, most concerts will open with an overture or other shorter work about 10 minutes or so in length.
The second half of the performance is often a full symphony of multiple movements, totaling minutes depending on how long the composer wrote and how fast the conductor conducts! The most popular option is the Lesher Center parking garage, located adjacent to the Center on Locust Street.
The garage is operated by the City of Walnut Creek and rates vary depending on the time of day and other events taking place in the area. You can now reserve parking for events at the Lesher Center ahead of time using the Park Mobile app. If you love a movement of fill-in-the-blank symphony and want to cheer for the performance you just heard, do it! What we do like is people having fun and sharing that experience with others, so take your selfies, check in on Facebook, and just make sure your phone is on silent out of consideration for the performers.
People watching! And awe! The other thing we hear often is that seeing a live orchestra—whether producing a giant wall of sound or playing such difficult, technical passages all in synch—would be so awe-inspiring.
Where do you perform, exactly? Just come and enjoy! Over time, many frequent concertgoers do find their enjoyment is deeper if they prepare for a concert. This can be simple, like reading the program notes beforehand; or it can be more involved, like listening to recordings of the music to be performed in the days before they attend a concert. You know yourself best, so if research interests you, go ahead and follow your curiosity.
Just listen with an open mind. Will I recognize any of the music? Classical music is all around us: in commercials, movie soundtracks, television themes, cartoons, retail shops, and even some elevators! Popular music often quotes classical melodies, too. What should I wear? Anything that makes you feel comfortable is fine. Some people enjoy dressing up and making a special night of it, and you can, too.
Should I arrive early? Plan to arrive 20 minutes before concert time, so you can find your seat, turn off your cell phone, take a look at your surroundings, absorb the atmosphere, and have time to glance through the program book, too. Many concertgoers make a point of coming early to read the program notes, watch the orchestra warm up, attend the pre-concert talk , listen to music in the lobby, or just enjoy the lobby concessions and talk with friends.
How long will the concert be? Very often there will be several pieces on the concert; but sometimes there is one single work played straight through. When should I clap? At the beginning of the concert, the concertmaster will come onstage. The audience claps as a welcome, and as a sign of appreciation to all the musicians. After the orchestra tunes, the conductor and possibly a soloist will come onstage.
Everyone claps to welcome them, too. This is also a good moment to make sure your program is open, so you can see the names of the pieces that will be played and their order. What if I need to cough during the music? What should I do with my cell phone during the concert? The same goes for pagers and alarm watches. Better still, leave them at home if you can. Can I take pictures? If you happen to have one with you, be sure to stop at the coat-check and check it in before entering the auditorium.
If you have a camera and want a souvenir of a special evening at the symphony, it can be fun to ask someone to take your picture outside the concert hall before you go in. Why is there an intermission, and what should I do during it? Listening to music is also an intense activity even if considerably less physical , and a break in the middle helps the audience concentrate better in the second half.
Some concerts, though, have no intermission because it would interrupt the flow of a long work. Can I bring my kids? Many standard-length classical concerts are inappropriate for small children because they require an attention span that is difficult for youngsters to maintain. About the Orchestra Why are the musicians onstage playing before the concert begins? This is fun to listen to and to watch.
Some of them are working on the passages they need to polish up before the performance, with no regard for what anyone else is practicing. Pick out the flute or the trumpet playing a solo line over and over, and listen to how it changes. Does it get smoother? If the player stops in the middle and starts over, can you hear the reason why?
Give a silent cheer for the player who nails the solo. Why do the musicians wear formal black clothes? Sometimes, these days, musicians dress a little more casually.
But they still try to look uniform, so that the audience can concentrate on the music. Soloists are the exception: they often dress differently, because they are the focus of attention. How come there are more stringed instruments than anything else? But in large numbers, they make a magnificent, rich sonority.
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