Why does the very first violinist walk onstage to begin each half of the concert?
A. It is a famous yet mysterious tradition in this country for the concertmaster to walk onstage alone to applause, bow to the audience, and turn to the 1st oboist to start the tuning process. I say mysterious because I think most MUSICIANS don’t understand why this is so (since many players applaud too)! Many assume the concertmaster entrance is a sign of deep respect for the concertmaster. However whenever I see a European orchestra perform, the reason seems apparent (although I reserve the right to be completely mistaken!). The European orchestra players usually all walk onstage as a group! This calls for a very LONG applause INDEED! One that challenges ANY audience to sustain! Sometimes they applaud TWICE… at the beginning AND the end of the MASS ENTRANCE! Thus is MY contention that the concertmaster SYMBOLIZES the orchestra’s entrance and ACCEPTANCE of the audience’s respect merely to save TIME and the audience’s patience! This has the ADDED bonus of allowing the orchestra to co
