Why has the musicians seating arrangement changed?
The setup of the symphony orchestra is a very interesting subject, one which conductors and orchestral musicians have been debating for at least the last hundred years. If one were to attend concerts in music capitals around the world one would see a wide variety of seating plans. Ultimately each maestro must decide for himself how the orchestra should be seated. After spending his first season as music director here, getting a feel for the orchestra and the acoustics of Jones Hall, Maestro Graf decided that he would initiate the seating change that is now in place for subscription concerts. Maestro Graf is of course an extremely experienced conductor and to him the current set up is what sounds best. It is also consistent with the way most of the music we play was conceived. It is a fact that, well into the 20th century, composers wrote for an orchestra in which the first and second violins were typically split to the conductor’s left and right. It should also be added that Maestro Gr
