Beaux Arts Trio

I saw the Beaux Arts Trio last night with friends from work at the Library of Congress. The concert was wonderful! I loved the Ravel trio that they did in the first half, and they came back for three encores. I felt as though it was a little excessive, but the bonus was still nice--particularly the movement from a Shostakovich trio that they did as the first encore. I have always loved chamber music... I think partly because of the intimacy of it and partly because you really get to see the performers' characters.

The concert was free, but it was a whole evening event just to get tickets. We arrived at 5:45 to line up in the lobby of the library for our free tickets, then at 6:30 someone came around and passed out numbers, telling us to come back at 7:30 for our tickets. We were numbers 12-15, so figured we'd probably get in (they reserve a certain number ahead of time through Ticketmaster, so the available tickets are from no-shows or something). We went for cheapcheap beer and chicken wings at a bar down the road, and came back at 7:30 where we sat down in a waiting room that looked like it was set up for a lecture. At 8, two ladies began calling numbers and passing out tickets. We got 2 pairs on opposite sides of the hall, but it was okay. I was on the left side, aisle, close to the stage, so I had a fantastic view.

It was a very strange experience to get into the concert, but totally worth the trouble. I think next time I'll try to reserve my tickets online though!