Symphony Hall--Home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
One of the most powerful cultural attractions in Boston is the world-famous Boston Symphony Orchestra. A must-see for classical music lovers, the Symphony’s city concert season begins in early October and continues through early May, bringing great conductors and soloists to the stage in unforgettable performances.
Organized in 1881, the “BSO,” under the musical direction of conductor James Levine, is housed in Boston’s acclaimed Symphony Hall, regarded as one of the three greatest concert halls in the world--the triumph of turn-of-the-century symphony organizers led by financier, Henry Lee Higginson, and architect, Charles Follen McKim.
Completed in 1900, Boston’s “Temple of Music” is an architectural masterpiece, and though its exterior is more austere than the initial design, the hall itself is a jewel box of acoustical and aesthetic perfection.
Despite the exterior ornamentation called for in the original blueprint, Bostonians skipped the frills and stuck with a plain and simple, though august, exterior--the kind of quintessential Yankee preference that reminded architectural writer Robert Campbell of “those Boston ladies who hid their new gowns from Paris in the closet for a year, so they wouldn’t look too fashionable.”
Today, Symphony Hall boasts some of the best acoustics in the world and hosts the cream of legendary world-class musicians, conductors and classical performances of all kinds.
