# Concert Prices



## Freischutz

Didn't you hear? All art is controlled and influenced by money! As absolutist as we like to be about our beloved aesthetics - especially since the 19th century, whose Romantics apparently revised the whole of human cultural history - art doesn't exist on its own merits. It exists at the whim of commerce.

Seriously, though, I'd like to hear what ticket prices are like in your experience / in your area because 1) it can of course determine whether or not you'll attend at all, and 2) it may affect how people conceive of concerts as being constructed to directly serve their tastes.

If possible, I'd like to know about the _cheapest_ available tickets at an average concert. Not more expensive ones if you happen to be able to afford them, and not special events that sometimes allow people in for free.

*If you pick a concert at random from a nearby ensemble and you want the cheapest seat, where in the above ranges are you likely to be paying?*

I've put the poll in USD because it's probably the most commonly used on this board _but please convert to USD first if that's not your currency!_


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## Taggart

Varies enormously. The Norfolk and Norwich festival is coming up so I've got a good idea of local prices:

Philharmonia Orchestra $60
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra $60
Sixteen - back of cathedral $40
Taverner Memorial $25
String Quartet - $25
Harp - $20
Piano Recital $15
Wind Group - $10
String Trio - $10

The last three are all "new" people from the Royal Academy doing small concerts. Typical prices for our local Baroque mob are about $25. Same thing applies in Lowestoft where the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra do a residency. You'd expect to pay $50 - $60 for a full orchestral performance or a ballet or opera going down to $25 for a basic ensemble.


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## Winterreisender

the CBSO, and other orchestras who play Birmingham Symphony Hall, usually have £7.50 (about $12?) seats right at the back of the concert hall. Chamber concerts and solo recitals generally seem to be about the same price.


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## ptr

Haven't bought and "cheapest seats" for ages, but checking they're about $12-15, but usually You can get fiercely discounted seats an hour before the concert if it is not sold out...

Generally I don't have the patience to hunt for discounts, if it is a concert I want to hear I just buy the best available seat!

/ptr


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## DrKilroy

The cheapest tickets to regular concerts in Warsaw Philharmony cost about $10, there are also tickets for like $3 that allow you to enter, but not to take a seat (I am not sure how this is called in English).


Best regards, Dr


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## Lunasong

Our ticketing agency, which includes the orchestra, ballet, opera, theatre, and touring shows (like Broadway) has a program called "Cheap Seats" which offers $10 seats to just about all the shows. You have to be on their email list to get the offers and can only buy them online and up to 48 hours before the performance. I have used the program many times because, unless it's something I really want to "see," I'm perfectly happy hearing a concert from a $10 seat.


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## Vaneyes

I won't pay any of those prices.* "I WANT MY SENIOR DEEP DISCOUNT!" *


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## Novelette

I coughed up $225 for a marvelous concert next week. Happily too. 

Cheapest? I think $25 was the least I ever spent on a single ticket here in the USA. I do recall spending approximately £8 to attend an outdoor concert in Carlisle, UK in 2005.


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## Oliver

£3 student tickets 

~£30 otherwise.


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## Headphone Hermit

Vaneyes said:


> I won't pay any of those prices.* "I WANT MY SENIOR DEEP DISCOUNT!" *


I wind up my retired colleagues by suggesting that they should pay more! :devil:

Heck .... they retired in their 50s and since then the state pension age has been raised to 67 .... if I work that long. I won't be collecting a pension for many months before I expire


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## Headphone Hermit

Freischutz said:


> I've put the poll in USD because it's probably the most commonly used on this board _but please convert to USD first if that's not your currency!_


Its ironic then that most replies have come from outside the US :lol:

Prices here are in line with Taggart's reply


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## Couac Addict

Radio France Philharmonique
€10. You can reserve tickets any time at that price. Or for €60, you can breathe on the conductor.
Orchestras are heavily subsidised in France. Something that gets a laugh from overseas artists is that we don't add up the ticket receipts. They go directly to a government department and never heard of again.


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## Op.123

Went to see string trio for £12
Going to see preformance of Dvorak Cello Concerto Tchaikovsky symphony 5 and Wagner Flying Dutchman overture for £3


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## Couac Addict

Burroughs said:


> Going to see preformance of Dvorak Cello Concerto Tchaikovsky symphony 5 and Wagner Flying Dutchman overture for £3


What a great bargain! ...are you sure it's not being performed by some guy with an accordion and a couple of cymbals strapped to his knees?


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## Couac Addict

I remember hearing a story about one of the provincial orchestras over here. They wanted to play the music from Lord of the Rings with the movie on screen. It's an expensive venture because the movie studio etc. wants it cut but the orchestra planned to raise the ticket prices because they knew that the hobbit nerds would still come. 

The government dept. stepped in because they thought the prices were too steep and it wasn't culturally significant. The orchestra argued that most of the audience would never have seen an orchestra before. That turned out to be reason enough to go ahead with the project...providing the ticket prices were reduced. The orchestra was compensated to cover rights fees etc.

Compare that with the number of hoops the Americans have to jump through just keep an orchestra afloat. I got the shock of my life when I visited a few years. I heard the rumours but seeing is believing. Far too much talent over there being wasted by bean counters.


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## Radames

BSO rush are $9. OSM rush are $40. Hartford was $32. Vermont is $16. Springfield MA is $20. Ottawa Symphony is $20. National Arts center only does student rush so I often pay $50 there.


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## Vaneyes

Radames said:


> BSO rush are $9. *OSM rush are $40*. Hartford was $32. Vermont is $16. Springfield MA is $20. Ottawa Symphony is $20. National Arts center only does student rush so I often pay $50 there.


I'm surprised by OSM's rush price, being that they're heavily subsidized. Hartford's steep, too, for a regional orchestra. :tiphat:


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## Krummhorn

Here in the US at our concert hall on the university campus, ticket prices hover around the $45 to $75 ranges for classical music programs. 

I get a special rate ... free ... because I am a volunteer usher at this hall during the regular season . I've been doing this for nearly 8 years and have seen a good number of well known and some not so well known artists.


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## Radames

Vaneyes said:


> I'm surprised by OSM's rush price, being that they're heavily subsidized. Hartford's steep, too, for a regional orchestra. :tiphat:


Hartford is a large 80 member fully professional orchestra. They play very well. I put the quality of their playing not that far behind Montreal and Boston. I think they're better than Ottawa's National Arts Center Orchestra. And they repeat the concerts more than larger orchestras in Montreal and Boston. HSO does Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances of every concert. Considering that $32 is very cheap.

Albany Symphony has $16 student rush, but I'm not a student. I subscribe and get them for about $32.

Montreal had $20 rush a few years back. That went up to $25 a couple of years ago. Now with the new hall they are $40. The hall was very expensive to build - roughly $269 million which includes estimated operating expenses for a 27-year period.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...as-quebec-beech-bland-shell-architecture.html


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## Op.123

Couac Addict said:


> What a great bargain! ...are you sure it's not being performed by some guy with an accordion and a couple of cymbals strapped to his knees?


Yes I'm sure , although if he could preform Dvorak's cello concerto with just an accordion and some cymbals strapped to his knees, I'd probably pay more to see that!


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## Vaneyes

Now this is the discount I was talkin' about. FREE! 

'Cleveland Orchestra players appearance at senior center'

http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2014/05/cleveland_orchestra_appearance.html


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