Where do you prefer to sit in a concert or opera house?

[Siedler]

The main floor (orchestra) or up high in the gallery? I know that every house is acoustically different but I think there are some general rules. I have often heard how the cheap gallery seats, high up there near the ceiling, are the best acoustically. Indeed they are, as I noticed while sitting in the 3rd balcony of Finnish National Opera. It was amazing experience to feel how the sound washed through my body during those triumphal scenes of Turandot. Of course the seats were too far away, though.
I've also noticed that's one shouldn't sit too near the orchestra or it sounds unbalanced. Also, never sit below an over-hang! Both Wiener Staatsoper and Musikverein has the standing room under the balcony and the sound is very muffled.

[bhodges]

Generally I'm in the "higher is better" camp.  Certainly at Carnegie Hall, the sound is generally better higher up (and yes, not under any overhangs).  For an orchestral concert, I also like sitting where I can see all the musicians, not just the first row of those closest to the front.  (You miss out on all the great percussion action that way!)

But that said, sometimes I do enjoy sitting downstairs, on the main floor level, such as at the Met.  There is nothing like seeing the Met's huge stage stretching across your field of vision, when it's a great production with a great cast.  The last things I saw downstairs were Jenufa and Eugene Onegin and I was enthralled.  That said, I did see both of the upstairs as well, to get the benefit of the better sound. 

Then you have places designed recently like Walt Disney Concert Hall, where the sound is pretty much great anywhere in the house (at least, in the spots I've sat in).  But it is also a different layout, a so-called "vineyard" design, in which the stage is closer to the middle of the room, with seats on all sides.

--Bruce

[Maciek]

My thoughts are similar to yours - I usually like the high places best, though sometimes I want to be closer to see the musicians better. In smaller halls I usually choose places more or less towards the center of the hall. And yes - those overhanging balconies can be very treacherous, I try to avoid them at all costs!

Maciek

[Sergeant Rock]

Generally I'm in the "higher is better" camp.  Certainly at Carnegie Hall, the sound is generally better higher up (and yes, not under any overhangs).  For an orchestral concert, I also like sitting where I can see all the musicians, not just the first row of those closest to the front.  (You miss out on all the great percussion action that way!)

But that said, sometimes I do enjoy sitting downstairs, on the main floor level, such as at the Met.  There is nothing like seeing the Met's huge stage stretching across your field of vision, when it's a great production with a great cast.  The last things I saw downstairs were Jenufa and Eugene Onegin and I was enthralled.  That said, I did see both of the upstairs as well, to get the benefit of the better sound. 

Then you have places designed recently like Walt Disney Concert Hall, where the sound is pretty much great anywhere in the house (at least, in the spots I've sat in).  But it is also a different layout, a so-called "vineyard" design, in which the stage is closer to the middle of the room, with seats on all sides.

--Bruce

I like first row middle balcony; Mrs. Rock likes first row floor.

Edit: When Hélène Grimaud is playing, I like to sit at her feet 

Sarge

[hornteacher]

I'm severely acrophobic so I like ground floor center isle about 12 rows back.

[MishaK]

Edit: When Hélène Grimaud is playing, I like to sit at her feet 

She's coming to Chicago this weekend. Schumann PC with Boreyko. Should I go? Her type of pianism isn't really my cup of tea. I heard her do Bach and Brahms in a recital and found it too chiseled.

[Don]

I like first row middle balcony; Mrs. Rock likes first row floor.

Mr. Satz also prefers first row floor.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Circle - right hand side of the stage slightly behind the conductor - isle seat

[Sergeant Rock]

She's coming to Chicago this weekend. Schumann PC with Boreyko. Should I go? Her type of pianism isn't really my cup of tea. I heard her do Bach and Brahms in a recital and found it too chiseled.

I love her recording of the Concerto (with Salonen and Dresden); it's both powerful and bracing but affecting too when called for. I thought I was through with this warhorse forever but she renewed my enthusiasm in a way that neither Arrau nor Kovacevich had (I'd bought both a few weeks before Grimaud). Her reading feels as passionate as Schumann must have felt writing it. She has a real affintiy for the German Romantics, including Brahms (and most critics seem to agree with me). I think I know what you mean by "chiseled" and to me that's a good thing...in Brahms and Bach anyway.

Of course I'd go to the concert but you're talking to a fanboy here.   I think she's more fluid when she's working with a conductor. Watching her, and hearing her with an orchestra might change your opinion of her. Might...

What else is on the program?

Sarge

[MishaK]

I love her recording of the Concerto (with Salonen and Dresden); it's both powerful and bracing but affecting too when called for. I thought I was through with this warhorse forever but she renewed my enthusiam in a way that neither Arrau nor Kovacevich had (I'd bought both a few weeks before Grimaud).

Have you heard Barenboim with Celi/MPO?

Her reading feels as passionate as Schumann must have felt writing it. She has a real affintiy for the German Romantics, including Brahms (and most critics seem to agree with me). I think I know what you mean by "chiseled" and to me that's a good thing...in Brahms and Bach anyway.

In Bach maybe, but not in Brahms. All voices in those beautiful chord progressions need to sing individually.

What else is on the program?

Some Mozart, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. Nothing really that makes me wanna plunk down money for it. I've gone to some performance nearly every weekend for the past two months, so I don't really feel the urgency to go.

[Sergeant Rock]

Have you heard Barenboim with Celi/MPO?

No, I haven't. Is it part of the EMI edition? I can't find it at JPC. Do you have a source for it?

Some Mozart, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. Nothing really that makes me wanna plunk down money for it. I've gone to some performance nearly every weekend for the past two months, so I don't really feel the urgency to go.

You sound like you need a break. You'll have other opportunities to see her.

Sarge

[mahlertitan]

where the rich folks sit.

[MishaK]

No, I haven't. Is it part of the EMI edition? I can't find it at JPC. Do you have a source for it?

No, it isn't part of the edition. I mean this. I can't seem to find it on jpc either.

[Siedler]

I heard Grimaud playing Schumann's 1st PC with Lahti Symphony/Vänskä, but I can't comment on playing as it was the first time I heard the piece (and perhaps the last, at least for a long while, as I thought it was very boring - much more interesting was the second piece: Aho's Symphonic Dances).

[Catison]

I like to sit where it sounds good and where it is cheap.  That means I sit in the upper balcony, and I am usually always satisfied.  Unfortunately, Madison's Overture Center likes to mic a lot of the performances and the speakers sit right next to the balcony.  It is so incredibly loud, it will damage your hearing for a week.  Or when they amplify the harpsichord, and it sound downright loony.  On days without amplification, the sound is very good.

[Steve]

At lyric, I generally prefer main floor, but at the CSO, I am more inclined to sit in the first balcony.

[MishaK]

At lyric, I generally prefer main floor, but at the CSO, I am more inclined to sit in the first balcony.

I love the terrace at Symphony Center that they installed during the renovation behind the orchestra. Great place to watch the conductor close up (as long as you don't sit atop the tuba).

[Mozart]

The higher the better, provided I have binoculars to comment on the soprano's bosom.