The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra's Tweet Seats

When I here the word "tonic", I think of gin rather than the reference pitch of a piece of music. I'm guessing I'm not the only one, so it's nice that the CPO has started a designated balcony section called "Tweet Seats". This is where smartphone addicts like me can be edified by CPO staff over Twitter during the concert. The Tweet Seat pilot is taking place during the CPO Rush Hour series, which are 1(ish) hour after-work concerts, each one built around a theme. Last night, it was Beethoven and his Viennese contemporaries.

Katherine Duncan (host of CBC Radio's Key of A) talked at length with conductor David Lockington before and between pieces, so the whole audience learned about the historical context of the music, such as rivalries, influences, and Napoleonic occupation. The audience also learned about the challenges the concerto soloists face (Clarinet:Steve Amsel, Trumpet: Adam Zinatelli).

In the Tweet Seats though, we were further enriched during the music by @CPORush (Artistic Director Heather Slater for this concert).  What I appreciated most were the tweets telling us the structure of the piece, and what part was coming up, what to listen for, how the parts relate, etc. Counterintuitively, using my phone made me pay more attention to the music. My mind has been known to drift off a bit at concerts previously...

Thankfully, there were relatively few navel-gazing tweets from the people in the Tweet Seats, mostly kudos for the soloists, and questions about the music, which were prompt answered. The back and forth effectively demystified Beethoven for me, and I hope they make Tweet Seats a permanent fixture.

The next concert in the CPO Rush Hour series is Friday, May 30, 2014, with music from Stanley Kubrick's classic sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey. If I'm lucky, they'll also demystify the meaning behind the giant in utero fetus floating above Earth.