Last fall, I sat in the orchestra section of the War Memorial Opera House for the concert in which Eun Sun Kim conducted the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Opera Chorus, and soloists in Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The orchestra was up on stage in the Jerome and Thao Dodson Shell, and the effect was pretty odd. There was the gulf of the orchestra pit between the audience and the stage, which isn't usually a problem, but made the orchestra feel very far away. And the orchestra sound wasn't great, not blended and gorgeous as it generally is when the orchestra is in the pit.
At Friday's Pride Concert (my review will be in SFCV!), I was in a box, with another member of the press and our respective companions, and wow, the orchestra, on stage in the shell, sounded fantastic. I'd heard from friends years ago that when the orchestra is on stage, you want to be upstairs somewhere, but this was the first time I'd experienced it. So, come the November Beethoven / de Falla concert, look for me in the Dress Circle somewhere.
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