What classical music concert should I go to?

January 4, 2009 3:25 PM

I'm a classical music ignorant who wants to see my first good concert in NYC after many years. There isn't any shortage of concerts here, but its difficult for someone like me to know what to try and mistakes are expensive. I'd like to go sometime in January or February and don't have strong preferences regarding genre or era.
posted by eisenkr to society & culture (8 comments total)

Columbia University's Miller Theater has a lunchtime series of free Mozart concerts this spring. The first is on Jan. 26th. Information here.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:44 PM on January 4

If I were you ... listen to the concert before attending. Buy three or four CDs, and develop a feel for the music. My philosophy is to enjoy music, and let it not be a discipline. Music is there to be enjoyed. Relax, let it overwhelm you, move you, touch you. It is not as if you have to write a thesis about it.

Love

BB
posted by bright77blue at 3:53 PM on January 4

I don't know what you consider expensive, but the cheapest seats at the Metropolitan Opera are 16.50. They're for perfectly good seats, too (a little far from the stage, but acoustically excellent). And, there are some operas that should have immediate appeal to the novice in the next couple of months (Rigoletto, La Boheme, Il Trovatore, Eugene Onegin). I always think you get more bang for your buck with opera. :-)
posted by Dolukhanova at 4:16 PM on January 4

You're so, so lucky to have this problem in NYC! The Julliard School is basically in your backyard, and home to some of the finest young classical musicians in the country. Many of their concerts and recitals are free -- here's the calendar of events.

Is there an instrument you find particularly appealing? Try a solo recital. Into bigger ensembles? Orchestras, choirs? Chamber music (smaller instrumental ensembles)? Contemporary, Classical, Baroque? You may not be able to answer these questions now, but you can sample all of them and decide what you do and don't like. You stand to lose nothing more than an hour or two of your time.

Faculty give recitals too, and they are often world-renowned performers playing for a fraction of what you'd pay to see them at Lincoln Center. But seriously, even undergrads at Julliard will be damn impressive. And student recitals are rarely well attended -- you could actually be doing them a favor just by showing up!

Julliard's far from the only game in town, too -- you could apply the same strategy at Mannes, the Manhattan School of Music,, or the music deptartments at NYU or Columbia. The latter two of these are departments that are more academic than performance-oriented, but that certainly doesn't mean you won't find some serious badasses playing recitals there.
posted by dr. boludo at 4:47 PM on January 4

oops -- on preview, fourcheesemac beat me to the Columbia suggestion.
posted by dr. boludo at 4:48 PM on January 4

These are great answers! I'll definitely check out Julliard (it's closer than Columbia) and will make sure to do my due diligence and listen to concerts beforehand. I've never seen an opera, so the seats at the Met could be fun as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
posted by eisenkr at 5:52 PM on January 4

get off on the right foot--it's juilliard, not "julliard." ENJOY!!!
posted by JimN2TAW at 10:05 PM on January 4

I recommend checking out the week's events at New Yorker. Here are this week's listings.
posted by billtron at 8:20 AM on January 5