Being cultured... one night..

There was a free concert in The Tokyo Opera City on Monday, 7 May. It was offered to the scholars through the Center for International Education. I signed up for the Monday concert. I went with my friends from the dormitory, Chua (Msian) and Mei Ling (Indonesian).

It was a classical orchestral concert. It's similar to the SSO (Singapore Symphony Orchestra), but from France. The program's synopsis as copied from the Tokyo Opera City website is as below:


Time - 19:00
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
[Artists]
Myung-Whun Chung (Cond), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
[Program]
Ravel: Ma mère l'oye
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, op.14
[Tickets]
SS:26,000 yen S:22,000 yen A:18,000 yen B:15,000 yen C:12,000 yen D:9,000 yen



We were given seats behind the orchestra, which costed 15,000 yen!!! One thing good about the seats is that we could see the face of the conductor... We can even see the musicians clearly too... Most of the time in an orchestra performance, the audience can only see the back of the conductor.. We can really see how his expression changes and his body language triggering the start/end of the instruments.. But one thing bad is that the whole of the concert hall is looking at our direction, so we cant really fidget or talk as everyone's attention is focused at our direction...

The audience was very passionate. They clapped and clapped until all the musicians were off the stage. They clapped so much that the conductor led all the musicians out to thank the audience for such a long round of applause.

It has been a long while since I've attended such concerts. If it wasn't for the high prices for these concerts, I would really like to attend them now that I have the time and mood for such enjoyment... Well, maybe there might be another concert soon.. :)