Lincoln Center With Teens for $12
 

We spent a fun evening tonight venturing into NYC to attend an "Inside the Music" concert.

Teenagers (aged 12 - 17) plus 1 guest are offered tickets at a price of $12. You have to purchase them in advance by faxing or mailing a copy of a birth certificate or passport.

We were at the back, in the 4th orchestra section at Avery Fischer Hall. But it is not that large a hall, so we could see and hear just fine.

This particular show seemed to have a handful of teens and mostly adults. A fellow spent a half hour discussing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, while the orchestra played brief sections to illustrate his talk. Then, the orchestra spent about 35 minutes playing the symphony uninterrupted. The entire show was just over an hour long.

Information can be found at the New York Philharmonic website. The program is listed under Music For All Ages, as Phil Teens.

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Sounds terrific. Thanks for posting. Did your teen enjoy it?

13 year old enjoyed it. I think he liked using the binoculars to watch the conductor the most. One hour was a good amount of time.

13 year old's friend totally loved it. But then, I invited him because he is interested in music. I found out that he has been working on writing a symphony at home.

11 year old enjoyed first 15 minutes, got bored by the talk, then enjoyed the first 15 minutes of the symphony and then fell asleep for the end. Enjoyed the experience, though.

It was good to "get some culture".

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has a similar program except for even younger kids (5-12). Its wonderful. The conductor gets very interactive with the kids, the music is selected with kids in mind and highlighted all the various sections of the orchestra. It was a lot of fun.

I am guessing that most of the kids in the audience played instruments based on the discussion.

I am also guessing that many orchestras hold similar events.

Travelgirl2 - I'll have to check this out for an upcoming mother/daughter trip to NYC. DD plays violin in a youth orchestra. Thanks for the tip!

Isn't it great to get kids involved in things like this?

This NY Philharmonic program is not a show just for teens. It seemed to be a program for serious music people. The speaker was very intellectual, although he tried to stay away from heavy music theory. To be honest, I probably followed about half of what he said. (I enjoy music, but know zero about it...)

They just offer cheap tickets to this program to teens. I think they probably have other programs for kids too.