A few months ago I took my 11 year old son to a concert at the Royal Festival Hall. We both thoroughly enjoyed the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 2 – although the piano wasn't as audible as I would have hoped. The Dvorák Symphony no. 9 that made up the second half of the concert took place too late for Sam who missed the final movement. He was fast asleep in his seat!
It made me wonder what percentage of concerts start at around 7.30 ...so I queried our Bachtrack database and discovered that 72% of all concerts, ballet and opera in the UK start between 7 and 7.45 pm. Then I thought about how convenient a time 7.30 was for other people. If you leave work at between 5.30 and 6 pm it is quite likely to take an hour to cross London to reach your concert hall, so you arrive at between 6.30 and 7 pm. That doesn't give you enough time to enjoy supper with your spouse or friend, so you are forced either to grab a sandwich at the venue, or wait until after the concert – around 10 pm.
When I went back to the database I found there was one orchestra that was outstanding for its flexibility of concert start times. The Israeli Philharmonic put on concerts at all times between 11 am and 10 pm. How great is that? You CAN have dinner or lunch at a normal time and still enjoy the music. Is it only me or would you like a little more choice about the start time of your concert, opera or ballet?
Do let me know.
Alison
