I recently enjoyed my first experience listening to the Toledo Symphony Orchestra at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. In a subsequent conversation with TSO President and CEO Robert Bell, we talked about the acoustics of the Peristyle shell. Sitting in the first few rows of the middle balcony, the music was clear and affecting, but did not carry the punch or physical resonance I expected.

Mr. Bell arranged for Julie Heigel, TSO marketing director, to offer a special opportunity the next week.
I was invited to observe a weeknight TSO rehearsal of “Carmina Burana,” not just from a front row, but from a seat onstage, literally in the middle of the orchestra.

Read what he thought after his experience in the middle of the muddle here.

Next I think they ought to have him sit in on a reed making session.