Portland Symphony and PortTix Review

Amazing! The Merrill Auditorium is a nice auditorium, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra is excellent! I especially like the bassoons.

First, I have visited for four classical presentaions and one pop presentation. The acoustics in Merrill Auditorium are terrible. The seating is hard and too tight for big and tall people. Amplification technology is very outdated.

The reservation system through Tthe Port Tix site are just impossible. You may want to use your phone because the people who take reservations do a very good job.

The orchestra itself is quite good. Interpretation has been unimaginative in four of my five visits. The programs are not very well concieved and the choice of material is so conservative it would induce certain sleepy time but for the extensive hacking, coughing, and paper crackling from the audience.

The one piece I enjoyed was a Rimski - Korsakov piece. One Mahler was good. All in all, for me, the Portland Symphony Orchestra is not worth the 70 mile - one way - drive.

I d love to be able to rate my experiences at five stars. Many PSO musicians are professionals from Boston and they are quite good in certain instances. The noisy audience, tight hard seats, and poor acoustics make a sixth visit by me highly unlikely.

Saw their "Oscars Biggest Hits" concert, specifically to hear ET and Star Wars. I also saw the Bangor Symphony late last year, that concert was a Star Wars tribute, all star wars for two hours. The Portland players were sloppy, and in one section of star wars movements almost fell apart. ET was also very sloppy. Nor were the french horns and bones entrances strong and bold like the soundtrack, they were weak. Overall, Portland's brass were very weak and uninteresting, nor were they on the beat, sloppy rhythmic accuracy. When I saw Bangor Symphony, they played the Flag Parade from the first star wars, and it was very tight, accurate, and VERY loud as needed, like the soundtrack played by the London Symphony. Bangor Symphony also had invited local honors chorus folks to fill out the star wars choral aspect. Bangor was a 5 star performance. I hope the Portland Symphony does a better job in the future, they were both weak and sloppy.

I saw the PSO on Independence Day and they played flawlessly!

Amazing shows, wide variety of programming, and very approachable staff!

I was able to afford a subscription this year and so far I have thoroughly enjoyed the concerts. The paid and volunteer staff are helpful and friendly. There is not a bad seat in Merrill to listen to the symphony as far as I can tell. It is a symphony that stays relevant and I'm excited about the concerts still to come this year. Maestro Preu is a joy to watch and the orchestra has such wonderful artistry and technical ability.