The first concert I attended for the semester was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. This was my first (real) classical concert. I did band in high school, so, of course, we would play classical music, but it hardly compares to seeing and hearing music performed live and well! My prior expectations were that it was going to be loud and exciting. The performance I saw was done by the Buffalo Philharmonic at Kleinhans. Kleinhans is designated as a national historical landmark with a reputation as one of the finest concert halls! Kleinhans is considered one of the most acoustically perfect halls in the world. This is something I was especially excited to see, even though my dad had warned me it did not look like anything special.
When we arrived and found our seats, I realized that my dad was correct; Kleinhans does not look all as glamorous as I had thought! If anything, it just looks like a regular music hall. But as the concert began, I learned why it was as famous as it is. The sounds reflect perfectly, and I bet every seat in the house can be considered a “good seat!” We sat in the middle, on the floor, to the right of the stage. My main complaint was that the seats were not very comfortable. I had listened to this symphony before, as well as many other works done by Beethoven because he is a favorite of my dad (his first being Mozart). The Orchestra set-up was new to me because, in my high school, we didn’t have an orchestra. I play the flute, so I am used to seeing flutes, clarinets, and oboes in the front rows. It was different to see the string instruments mainly in the front. Upon receiving the program, one of the inserts s...
