Last night I went to the Seattle Symphony to hear Mahler's 8th Symphony. I went purely because a friend of mine was performing in the chorus and it was his first time performing at the Symphony and I just think that is pretty darned cool...even if he was one of A LOT of people on stage. Apparently, this symphony has been nicknamed, "Symphony of Thousands," and that really is not far from the mark:

• It looked as if there were just as many people ON stage as there were in the audience. The stage had even been extended into the first 4 rows of seats to accommodate the 3 choruses and orchestra. I was astounded that the stage didn't collapse.
• I think Mahler wanted to use absolutely every instrument he knew of - there was everything from a gong to a mandolin on stage. Not one, but three harps. Oh, and a full organ (that is permenantly built into the back of the stage) also kicked off the symphony.
• The fact that there were so many instruments, meant that some musicians had to wait a LONG time for their moment. The harpsicord guy was reading a novel while waiting his turn. I had no idea that was acceptable. The gong guy - he had to wait until the final 10 seconds of the piece during which he hit the gong a total of 5 times. I really want his job.
• Even the audience was varied. As usual in Seattle, you have some people who look like they are going to a black tie wedding, and some people who, well... take things a lot more casually. Yesterday I saw a man dressed in full bicycle gear - including biking shoes, shorts and helmet in the will call queue. Seriously. Only in Seattle.