Writing Sample

Evening at the Symphony

Sukanya Seshadri
(Written for Mass Media newspaper at UMass Boston)
November 2010

To experience one of the splendors of Boston is to spend an evening enjoying the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Recently, I had an opportunity to attend their performance on the opening night of the Orchestra's 2010-2011
season. I had never seen the symphony but was intrigued by it and the impact it had on Boston's rich musical
history.

Symphony Hall is 110 years old and is located in the South End, one of the busiest sections of Boston. With
tickets in hand, I followed along with the elegantly dressed crowd, into the large theater which was like
stepping into a different world. There were excitement and energy among the crowd. This may have been the
feeling of what of it was like during the Renaissance period when people literally lived for the arts.

Perhaps one of the most humbling features of the hall is the grand 4800-pipe Aeolian Skinner organ mounted
at the backdrop of the concert stage. The organ was of a rich gold color and illuminated the entire stage setting
in a warm glow. Above the stage, microphones remained suspended from the ceiling, at varying heights.

Every musical concert or performance has its own distinguishing marks. My experience with concerts is more
of an informal nature that are of the pop or indie genre and where there is a huge build up of emotions as the
audience members have to usually wait for the artistes to arrive on stage who are often unfashionably late.

But what distinguished this Symphony performance from the other types of concerts I have attended is that the
Boston Symphony Orchestra members, in all their grandeur, were seated patiently on the stage holding onto
their violins or standing beside their harps and cellos, while waiting for everyone to settle down into their
seats. This was refreshing to me and probably to many other first-time symphony-goers. It shows true
professionalism and humility on the part of the musicians and conveys that the musicians here have the utmost
regard for their audience. Their goal is solely to entertain the audience. This is exactly what they did.

After a short prelude, the audience members were all smiles and welcomed legendary director and conductor
James Levine with a thunderous applause. An ever louder applause echoed around the room when Bryn Terfel,
the iconic Welsh opera singer, made his appearance onto the stage.

Together, their performance mainly consisted of acts from operas by Richard Wagner such as Tristan und
Isolde, The Ride of the Valkyries, and The Overture to The Flying Dutchman.

Even though I was unfamiliar with the intricacies of classical music or the German language, I could feel the
power of the music through the intensity and passion with which all musicians harmoniously performed their
parts. They evoked a wide spectrum of emotions in the audience, which was largely reflected in their emotional
reaction as well as in the sound of the applauses that they gave the performers.

But after two hours of a beautiful performance, it was over. But hopefully as people return to reality they will
remember the feeling they had sitting in a beautiful hall and basking in some of the most beautiful music in the
world.