Let’s Call This …

The Boston Symphony Orchestra could be one of the most phenomenal artistic resources in Boston, MA. At least for lovers of orchestral European classical music, there are plenty of avenues to experience the grandeur of one of the most highly regarded orchestras in the world. Here’s a short list of ways to score tickets.

College Students
If you are a college student, talk with your Fine Arts department or Student Activities office to see if they participate in the CollegeCard program. CollegeCard is $5 for Berklee students and free for MIT and BU (and Harvard, I believe) students. Probably other local universities have similar engagements. With proof of college-ness, you can get a CollegeCard directly from the BSO. The CollegeCard gets you into a select number of performances every season. Tickets are picked up on the day of the concert and are limited but appear to rarely run out. Sometimes, additional CollegeCard tickets are released to random dates, which is a pretty nice deal. I’ve had only orchestra seats with the CollegeCard, including premium First Orchestra seats (great soundstage) and Fourth Orchestra Seats, which were in the third row (amazing).

Anyone for $9
Since CollegeCard performance dates are limited, another great option is Rush Ticketing. Rush tickets were established as an endowment to provide very inexpensive tickets (currently $9, cash only) to allow as many people as possible to enjoy the symphony. All Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday matinee performances have rush tickets available, which is a huge portion of the season’s calendar. The catch is that tickets are limited, and you have to wait in line before the show (ticket sales start at 5 pm on the day of an 8 pm concert), and I’ve already missed out on tickets for not being in line before 5:15 pm.

Under 40?
If you, like me, miss out on any rush tickets, you might be out of luck, unless you are under 40 years old. Then there’s the <40 = $20 program, which sells any remaining tickets for a performance to persons under 40 for $20. Obviously proof of age is required, but these are orchestra and balcony seats, though there really don’t appear to be bad seats at Symphony Hall.

The box office is located on the East side of Symphony Hall, facing Massachusetts Avenue. This is where the line forms for rush tickets, and this is where you can purchase all other tickets. Hopefully this will motivate someone out in the interweb to finally get to that BSO concert they’ve been thinking about for the 3 years they’ve been in Boston! See you at the Symphony.