Dallas Symphony Orchestra

What can I say! The DSO is awesome and a huge DATE night win! I’ve been to the Meyerson multiple times to come see them perform and every single time has been an awesome experience.
It is also pretty inexpensive! I recommend the seats in the Corral room. They are located near the organ and above the stage so you can see the whole orchestra! Tickets go up to about $ 20 for that section. I have heard that the sound is not so great because your pretty much above and behind the orchestra. However, the sound was fine to me!
If you are really wanting to maximize your orchestra sound experience, then the orchestra floor seats are the best! They are located right in front of the stage and cost about $ 35. I have sat here before and the sound is definitely amazing, but I only get to see part of the orchestra members! Still not a big deal.
They bring in guest violinists, pianists, and conductors quite often and they have all been phenomenal! My favorite are the piano concertos so far!
They serve wine and other drinks in the lobby, but you are restricted from bringing them with you to your seat.
Also, don’t clap in between movements because apparently that is inappropriate. Dress appropriately! Business casual is acceptable, or a nice pair of dark jeans with a nice button shirt or a jacket is ok too! Parking is also extra since it is located in the arts district downtown. It is usually about $ 8.
Have fun!

I am a classically-​trained violinist, who grew up with a host of violin teachers, including the then-​conductor of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, in and around youth orchestras, honor orchestras, symphonies, auditions, concerts galore. I’ve also had the pleasure of hearing city orchestras in Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles. I have to say, Dallas holds its own.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is one of the largest and oldest performing arts organizations in the southwest. It performs at the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas (next door to Wyly Theater, the Winspear Opera House, and the AT&T Performing Arts Center). It is famous for its work on Paganini, Mozart’s Requiem, other classical offerings as well as popular concerts featuring, inter alia, Disney songs.
My check-​in was for a long-​awaited performance of Mozart’s Requiem (tickets were sold out months in advance). Before the Requiem, the orchestra played a specially-​commissioned concerto, the Triple Concerto, which was composed by German composer Wolfgang Rihm. The contrast between Trio and Requiem was well thought-​out, and lovely.
DSO’s soloists were amazing. Every note.
As some music critics have noted, DSO seems to have a penchant for using an inordinate number of vocalists for 18^th-​century music. As a result, some parts of the Requiem came across slightly off — but this was more than compensated for by the visceral force, amazing technique, vocal balance, and elegance of the musicians.
This orchestra overall was fabulous, daring, and mesmerizing.
That being said, a few members of the audience seemed to have trouble with applause etiquette. A few things to keep in mind:
**When a piece has multiple movements, do not clap at the end of each movement. Wait until the end of the piece. This was only an issue at the very beginning of the concert, before the errant clappers realized that they were on their own. But don’t make this mistake going in; it isn’t mindful of the music’s continuity and the musicians’ concentration.
**There will be a moment of silence at the end of each piece, just for a second or two, when the musicians will still have their instruments up, and the conductor still has his arms up. Please don’t begin talking or clapping during this time. This is a moment of suspension and reflection. Wait until the conductor drops his arms and everyone lets out the collective breath that they have been holding.
Other than that, it was an amazing experience. I can’t wait for my next one.

A performance by a symphony orchestra is one of those events in life at which I, at one time, balked. Like the opera, ballet or an art museum, it just didn’t sound exciting. And now that I’ve attended all of these events, I would advise others with an old adage: Don’t knock it till you try it. Nothing can compete with live performance. Forget what you’ve seen on television, heard on the radio, or listened to by CD. Live performance is just what it says: ALIVE, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra passionately brings to life not only the best of the classical composers, but pop and jazz, larger than life.
The latest performance I saw by the DSO was the «Christmas Pops» resplendent with brilliantly arranged carols of old, whimsical fantasies on familiar seasonal tunes, and even a delightful audience singalong session! This performance included not only the symphony, but scores of voices in the combined Dallas Symphony Chorus and the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas, and the sensational solo voice of Jubilant Sykes. The glorious music was accented with colorful lighting displays and the graceful forms of the Christmas Pops Dancers. Every part of the performance was perfectly staged like a stroke of an artist’s brush, contributing to an overall elegant and colorful masterpiece.
And the exclamation point on the evening was … SURPRISE … snow falling inside the Meyerson! How unexpected and fun!
Whether you are visiting Dallas or are a native, plan an evening with the DSO. You’ll enjoy every note!

We went to the New Year’s Eve concert to Meyerson. It was simply amazing! The orchestra is impeccable! Fantastic performance! We are thinking of making it our New Year’s Eve tradition.

This is more a review for the venue than the orchestra itself. We went there for the first time for a Christmas show with Michael W. Smith and Angie Miller. The concert was GREAT!
I was amazed at how nice the DSO hall was. It is much smaller than expected which is good because it makes for great seats no matter where you sit.
If you have an opportunity to see a concert there, don’t worry about where you sit because from what I could see there isn’t a bad seat in the house.

I love this venue! Every seat us great. We saw Pixar with our ten year old daughter — a total hit!

Had a VERY lovely time here on December 20 for the Christmas Celebration. We did have to sneak out early because we had dinner reservations and the 2 hour show was really more like 2 ½ hours. Sad to miss the very last part but the whole show was great.
I think we had the best seats, 1 tier up in Box B, but I was impressed that the venue is a little more compact than I expected and I bet there is really not a bad seat in the house. This was a special occasion, so I think my funds would normally find me in the nose bleeds! DSO tickets are insanely pricey most of the time, sadly, because I would love to come back more often. I believe there are package deals or maybe ticket specials at the last minute, so that may bear more looking into.
LOVE the venue and this area of town. I felt positively swanky.
Word to the wise, however: there were no cabs to be seen at all after the show! If you’re lucky you may catch an EFROG (
) or I think you can even reserve one. It sure saved our tails after dinner – it was COLD that night and my heels were epic.

I love watching the DSO perform at the Meyerson Symphony Center. I’ve attended three or four perfomances. One of these was pleasantly surprising — Ben Folds with the DSO a few years back.
I’ve sat in orchestra and in the terrace — neither was a bad seat. Seats are comfortable yet have narrow leg space (but I have seen worse). The music hall is structured in such a way to where the acoustics allow the crisp music notes of each instrument to be heard throughout the hall sans echo regardless of your seat. I was glad to hear that Jaap van Zweden renewed his director contract with the DSO this year and am grateful to have such talented musicians in our city of Dallas!
TIPS:
— Get here ahead of time to walk the marble stairs and enjoy the Meyerson before the performance.
— You have a couple of options for paid parking — nearby garage or valet.
— There are a couple of restaurants at the Meyerson for those interested, but I haven’t dined at either.
— I do wish people would learn better etiquette before attending a performance. It is very rude and disruptive to get there late. Please be courteous and get there on time before the performance starts. Also, do your best to keep quiet during the performance.
–Try to dress a little nice and not look grungy. Smart casual and upwards are your best bets.

The DSO is a wonderfully relatively inexpensive date night opportunity that the Dallas arts scene can offer you and your SO. The dress code is fancy to super deluxe fancy, so dress accordingly or the weird people next to you from Preston Hollow will give you some major side eye. However, unlike the AT&T PAC, there are no bad seats in this venue. The balcony isn’t high enough to give you vertigo and the parabolic organizing of the seats, give you a great view to classically jam out.
If you go to the DSO when there’s a good concert, this can make perfect evening. However, if there’s one you’re unfamiliar with, it could be a nightmare. I’ve been to both and the latter is a terrible experience.
⁸⁄₁₀. Take the DART and enjoy.

Be very careful about purchasing any tickets from the sales department that calls you at home. I was called and in the sales pitch was told it was 100% refundable after I said I wasn’t sure my out of town guests would come. I repeatedly asked him over and over before giving my credit card that this was indeed 100% refundable. He repeated said yes 100% refundable so you have no worries. When I found my guests were not coming in – I called immediately to get a refund. First I was told they are not refundable or exchangeable. I explained the conversation and told them to listen to the tape of his call and you would find he said 100% refundable. I have sense gotten a 78% refund which is still a lot that was not refunded as I was purchasing 7 tickets in Orchestra section. This was a very expensive lesson to learn that you can’t trust the DSO and I won’t be purchasing tickets again from them.

THE DSO is a world class orchestra. And the concert hall (the Myerson) is outstanding. If you ever hear of a concert in which the Lay Family Organ is being played, it doesn’t matter whatr the concert is. Get your ears down there and revel in the splendor of this fine orchestra and wonderful setting.

So I’ll admit that I went for the love of wife. We got tickets from Texas Instruments who is a sponsor of the DSO. We got a free baby sitter and off we went. Even with the heavy rain we made our way to downtown Dallas. Here’s where the good experience started.
Even in the middle of the heavy down pour, and never having been to the place, we easily located the parking garage. Coupled with very easy access off Woodall Rodgers, and only 2 left turns, we were able to park 8 minutes upon exiting the freeway.
Since we arrived early, we had time to explore the facility. Here are things I enjoyed or found out:
– I was surprised that there were eateries.
– There were several other events going on simultaneously.
– As my wife and I walked around, we admired the scenery as well as the building.
– We were able to enjoy the structure and we scaled the various stairways.
– When we decided to read the Playbill, there were nice cushion seats immediately outside the doorway.
And once we entered the place, it was very classy.
– I looked around the spacious building and marveled at the seating arrangement.
– I was intrigued even more when I discovered I could bring my kids.
Yes they still have to be up to par with the rules and be classy but I was just excited I could bring them. I even saw a (either 7 or 8 year old) and the only thing I heard from him is a few coughs.
A few things to keep in mind:
* Dress nicely (Sunday best would do very well), you wouldn’t be turned away but you could feel out of place.
* No Photography
* Absolutely No Talking
* Turn off your cell phones
* No moving around
* No PDA (targeting the lovebirds)
But all these rules allowed for an enjoyable experience. And lastly, owing to the well planning, accessibility is something key to me and to measure that, we were out and onto the freeway all in less than 10 minutes even with traffic. I’d go again just because of the ease of access let alone the awesome experience.
I will say though I thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the show after I got some culture «played» into me. The DSO rocks!