How to Get the Perfect Seat

With the start of single ticket sales, I thought I would offer some suggestions to help you get the best possible seats for the upcoming season.

Get to know our venues.  In subsequent blogs we will be featuring video clips that give you an inside glimpse into each of our concert halls.  A seating chart for the Perelman Theater is available here, and if you're new to a venue, our box office staff will happily help you evaluate the virtues of different seats.  And when you come in to the box office, we'll show you exactly which seats you have to choose from.

Use the comments section when ordering online.  Whether you want to sit up close, in the balcony or on the keyboard side, you can inform us of your seating preference in the comments section before you check out.  Be as detailed as possible in your request; the more information you give us, the better.

Don’t sleep on the balcony.  Sure, downstairs, halfway back on the aisle is a beautiful seat, but there are great and underrated vantages throughout all of our halls.  Try sitting in the balconies at the Perelman Theater, where the sound is pristine and the sight lines superb, or in the mezzanine at the Seaport Museum.  It's the perfect balance between sitting close or in the balcony.

Waiting lists are your friend.  Even for sold out concerts, tickets — and very good ones, at that — are often returned in the days leading up to a concert.  If you add your name to a waiting list, we’ll give you a call if and when tickets become available.  It requires a little flexibility, but last season many patrons were rewarded with last minute tickets for artists such as the Guarneri Quartet, András Schiff and John Williams, even though those concerts had been sold out for months.  Waiting lists work out much more often than people think.

Upgrade your seats.  In addition to the waiting list, we also maintain a seat upgrade list.  If we don’t have the perfect seat available at the time of purchase, we’ll make a note of your ideal seat location and call you when a superior seat becomes available.

Arrive early.  For general admission concerts, plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of a concert.  Arriving half an hour before, when doors open, guarantees your choice of seats.

Buy at the box office.  When you purchase your tickets in person, not only do you get to hang out with our friendly box office staff, you also save the $2 handling fee that applies to phone and internet orders.  See how much we like it when you visit?