An Evening at the Symphony (Or a Lesson in Bribery)

It was the final weekend of the George Enescu festival at the symphony, with performers from all over the world descending on Bucharest for the event. Saturday's 10:30pm performance was the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. When we arrived at the symphony we couldn't find the box office. There were a couple of scalpers who approached us with tickets, but they were asking too much. I befriended a group of Romanians who told me the performance was sold out. Monika, in her perfect English, told me they did not have tickets either, but had their "methods" of getting in. Interesting.

As performance time approached, the scalpers disappeared. Then there was, we'll call him "Radu." Radu was wearing a nice smooth black leather jacket, smooth like his cleanly shaved head. Radu said he could get us in. "Do you have tickets?" Chad asked him. No--no tickets, but he could still get us in. We didn't quite understand, but before we knew it, we are following Radu over to the side of the building to the performers entrance. A small crowd of people had begun to form there. My new friend Monika also migrated that way. Radu told us to wait a minute . . . he entered the building and when he came back to the door, motioned to us. A lady shoved her black sequined purse in front of me, trying to edge her way in. Ah, but don't mess with Radu. Grabbing my wrist, and chiding her in Romanian, he pulled me past the lady and into the building.

We follow Radu up the several flights of spiraling stairs where we see an usher at the closed door. He says a few words to her, comes a few steps back to us and explains that we can't let the usher see the "exchange." We make Radu happy, the usher opens the door, and that my friends, is how you get into a sold out performance in Bucharest.

Built in 1888, the concert hall is so small and charming. It's actually inside the top of the building's rotunda and has wonderful acoustics (no corners for sound to get lost in!).

The foyer below the rotunda.

Scenes from Romanian history are painted in the round of the concert hall. Our friend Monika also made it in and sat behind us (it's open seating). During intermission I asked her who was that man that brought us in. She said he has a friend who works at the symphony. We figure they split the proceeds and that's how they supplement a meager income.

Buttercream, blue and gold-- a celestial color scheme and one of my favorites!