The Utah Symphony's hall is quite impressive for a city with a population of 199,723 (2020 census). The red four-story blown-glass installation sculpture in the lobby is the Olympic Tower, by glass artist Dale Chihuly (1941-).The wood reminds me of Lincoln Center (but I'm not too fond of the gold hue).We were on our way to FamilySearch, but when passing by the symphony hall, we found a Mozart concert! And they still have tickets. Lucky me.The program:1. Mozart, Symphony #352. Saint-Saëns, piano concerto #2, with Alessio Bax (1977-, Bari, Italy)3. Bartók, concerto for orchestraConductor Christoph Koncz (1987-, Konstanz, West Germany) gave a briefing on the background, which is excellent.The latecomers are let in during the piece that is being played. Errrhhhh…I thoroughly enjoy Saint-Saëns' piano concerto; the pianist received a prolonged standing ovation. The thundering enthusiasm is rewarded with an encore: he plays with his left hand only. Couldn't remember the name of the piece.The third piece is bit too hard, so we left.

My son and I attended a concert here, it was a first for both of us. Such a great experience! We arrived a half hour before the performance began and had plenty of time to explore the building and take pictures. There is a little gift shop counter which was not open. There is a concession stand with signs saying that only bottled water is allowed in the hall. The welcome desk is such a great idea. The bubbly hostess is ready to answer any questions, and she even pulled out a polaroid camera and took our picture with the glass sculpture behind us. There was every type of outfit being worn from very casual, to very formal, and even two men dressed as Mozart! Prior to our visit, when looking at pictures, I thought the seats had ample room to walk past people without them having to rise and let you pass, but not so. The seating is numbered such that the center seat is zero, then counts out from the center. We were in 9 and 11 which honestly felt like center. However, if you'd rather not have to walk through all the knees and toes to be close to center, there is great visibility and sound quality anywhere. I had waffled with the idea of riding Trax from our hotel, but we didn't have time. We then planned to park at City Center, but traffic was awful due to a protest going on. We lucked out and noticed a couple of spot right on South Temple while waiting at a light. These spaces have numbers to enter into the payment machine, but the machine told me payment was not required at the time, so yay! Watching a symphony make the music you listen to at home is a really cool experience!

This concert hall has a central location right by to the light rail Temple Square stop, a modern architectural design, very good acoustics, and a variety of performances. The hall also has smaller rooms on an upper level where pre-concert lectures can take place.

While I would disagree with some reviews that it must have alcohol available to be a good experience, there actually is a V.I.P. reception (by invitation) that serves both red and white wines. There is also a pre concert lecture, available to all, by guest artists and directors!

We attended the first COVID era symphony on opening night and it was spectacular! They spaced everyone out really well. They were super strict about masks, your health, and all that. No one was getting in if you've been sick. They were really professional about it. So many staff and volunteers were there. You felt well taken care of. It's been a few years since I've been, but it was truly amazing! What a great venue to watch a musical performance. They really do make sure everyone will be safe, so nothing to worry about there.