Hi everyone,

Tonight I'm going watching 'Friday Fright Night' at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, and it's going to be my first ever time of going watching an orchestra.

The music during tonights performance includes Orff: O Fortuna, Saint-Saens: Danse Macabre, Mozart: Dies Irae from Requiem, as well as music from The Oman, Harry Potter, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I'm going watching the performance with my nan, and we're sat four rows from the front just off centre.

The performance starts at 7.30pm.

I'll also post a review on here asap.

I would really like to hear about your first orchestra experience, and what you thought of the performance.

Loz xx

Sounds great! Enjoy yourself!

Wow, lucky you! There are few things to beat a live orchestral concert. Hope you have a great time.

My first concert was about a hundred years ago (feels like that anyway!) when I went to hear our local county youth orchestra. They played Brahms' Third Symphony but I can't remember the rest of the programme. The best concert I've been to was probably the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Most at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. There was just one work, Mahler's Second Symphony, and it was spine tingling, particularly the contralto soloist who had tears running down her cheeks by the time she'd finished. A close second was hearing Nicola Benedetti play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, again at Symphony Hall.

P.S. I love the Harry Potter music.

Hope you ahve a lovely time

I was there too! Hope you enjoyed it





It was Dream of Gerontius at Leeds Town Hall. It wasn't my cup of tea at all I'm afraid, but thankfully it didn't put me off and it was the start of some wonderful concert experiences

I had a great time, despite a few problems which occured during the performance.

Problem 1: A fingity young child who couldn't still during the performance, and chomping on sweets very loudly. His mum did keep telling him, but he wasn't listening. So I ended up swapping seats with my nan, because of it. But come the second half the mum had swapped the brothers around, and the youngest was really well behaved.

Problem 2: Mum asked daughter during the performance of Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter "Have you still got Harry Potter." Didn't hear much after that, apart from a few shhhh. After the performance had finished World War 3 nearly broke out between mother and daughter, and the people sat in front. It was horrible, and I just wanted to get out but couldn't due to the arguing.

So overall not a bad night, despite a few problems by other people.

My nan a bit bemused by why people where clapping the leader of the violins, before the conductor. So I had to tell her why, because she couldn't understand. But it was our first ever orchestra visit.

I will post the review possibly sometime tomorrow, if I get time. I can't do it tonight as I'm of to my works Halloween do shortly, and I've just finished writing it up for my arts award.

Loz xx

Thanks to a very generous forum member, I too had my first orchestral experience at the Bridgewater over 4 years ago. The thread is here

I really enjoyed my first experience of going seeing an orchestra, despite the little hiccups I mentioned in an earlier post.

The first half of the performance started with Orffs O Fortuna, and all I can say is WOW. That piece really does get you when you hear it live. The second piece that was played was 'A Night on the Bare Mountain' by Mussorgsky, which I thought originally was piece of music that I wasn't familiar with, but once the orchestra had started playing I remembered that I had the piece somewhere before I just can't remember where. The next piece to be performed was Bach's 'Toccata & Fugue in D Minor', which was performed as a solo piece by the organist Jonathan Scott. 'Toccata' was piece I was familiar with due to hearing the Vanessa Mae version, but I've also heard the piece on another CD which was played on the organ. The next piece to be performed was 'March to the Scaffold' by Berlioz, which I've heard off until that performance. The piece to be performed after that was 'We're off to See the Wizard and Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead' from the Wizard of Oz, which I really enjoyed mainly because I didn't know it was the programme, and I was also singing along to it quietly to myself. Next was Gounod's 'Funeral March from Marionette', this again was another piece of music that I've never heard of before. The first half of the performance was finished off with Dukas 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice', and this is a piece of music that I've loved ever since I was child, due to Disney's 'Fantasia'. This piece was excellent performed live.

We had a 20 minute interval before the second half of the performance.

The second half of the performance opened with the 'Overture from The Phantom of the Opera', which was performed by organist Jonathan Scott. The next piece of music to be performed was Mozart's 'Dies Irae from Requiem', this was another piece that I've heard off before, but I really enjoyed listening to the choir part of this piece. The next piece to be performed was Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkeries', which I first heard as a child but I didn't know what the piece of music was called back then. But I really enjoyed listening to it being performed live. 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Greig was next piece to be performed, and it had an audience participation part in it near the end. The audience had to shout "Kill him". This piece again I was familiar with from childhood as I remember being used for the Alton Towers commercials, & I also really enjoyed listening to it everytime it came on the TV. The next piece was Puccini's 'The Witches Dance from Le Villi', which again was another piece I've never heard of before up until the performance tonight. The next piece was Saint-Saen's 'Danse Macabre', which is mostly well known for being the theme for Jonathan Creek, and the solo violinist tuned his E string down a semi-tone to give it that spooky effect. Next was John Williams 'Hedwig's Theme' from Harry Potter, this piece I really enjoyed listening too, despite the distrations. I really like listening to 'Hedwig's Theme' as its so magical. The second half finished off with the 'Suite from The Oman', which I again had never heard off until the performance on Friday. The audience got another piece music performed to them in the form of an encore, which was the theme from the film ET.

Quite a number of pieces blew me away that night, including some of the one which I wasn't aware of. The conductor was John Pryce-Jones, who was cracking halloween jokes throughout the performance, as well as explaining each piece of music to the audience. The orchestra was dressed in black. One of the percussionists was dressed up as a ghost, a bassoonist had a skeletal hand sticking out of it, the organist was dressed up as the Phantom, and one of the cellists was wearing a black sequined eye mask.

Sorry for bragging on, but I really did enjoy myself and I would go again

Loz xx

Sounds like a great concert, and that you really enjoyed it! Looks like there was a great selection of well-known pieces there! Glad you had such a great time, it's a shame about that family who ruined it for you.

Ooooo!!!! I know JP-J!!!!

Sounds a great concert

Hi Loz. Sounds like you had a fantastic time! And it's always good to (re)discover pieces you love at a concert.

Don't apologise - if there's one place you are allowed to enthuse about some music you have enjoyed, it is surely here! However, you could have used the more appropriate phrase 'harping on'

So glad you have discovered the thrill of live music performances. Here's to many more concerts in the future!

Thank you everyone for your very encouraging comments towards my first ever orchestra visit.

I only realised last night that I had one of the pieces of music performed on the night on a CD at home. The piece of music I've found was 'A Night on the Bare Mountain' on my 'Fantasia' CD.

Loz xx