When performers didn't acknowledge the applause, I kept thinking the clappers might get the hint. But they never did in the Beethoven, and interstitial applause finally petered out only halfway ...

If you’ve ever attended a classical concert, you’ve probably experienced that awkward, hesitant half-clapping that sometimes occurs at the end of a symphonic movement: The music stops, the hall falls ...

A column on applause etiquette at classical music concerts - "Audiences, please hold your applause" (Jan. 14 Arts & Life section) - drew a fair bit of reader response. All agreed with the column's ...

Last autumn, Barack Obama hosted an evening of classical music at the White House. Beforehand, he said, "Now, if any of you in the audience are newcomers to classical music, and aren't sure when to ...

Good stuff from Alex Ross last night at the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Philharmonic Society lecture on the silent(-ish) rituals of the concert hall, an edited version of which you've been reading and ...

Until recently, the question of when to applaud at classical concerts never needed to be asked. Everyone knew the answer was never, except at the end of the piece. But suddenly it’s generating a lot ...

Oh the perils of a classical music concert. One always risks showing one’s ignorance and suffering acute embarrassment. That’s because classical music is complex. A classical piece can be hard to ...

In the March 9 Tempo, critic John von Rhein devotes the fourth paragraph of his review of pianist Stewart Goodyear’s March 7 concert to criticizing the audience for applauding “between almost every ...