I recently had the chance to attend a classical music concert in a different country, in Greece, to be precise. And somehow, I experienced a little bit of a culture shock, as there were certain behaviours of the audience that I didn't really expect.
I attended a contemporary classical music concert while I spent a week in Athens earlier this year. As it was a contemporary classical music concert, I was interested in it, and procured tickets. I didn't realise that such a concert could attract a large audience. In fact, I was susprised that the Megaron (a large concert hall) has been quite full. Contemporary classical music concerts in Berlin tend to be an academic and high-brow affair, interesting only to afficionados like me. And for those who are surprised of the music, they typically walk out. But this didn't happen here in Athens.
I also was surprised at the general behaviours of the audience. They rarely used the coat check - almost everyone wanted to bring their coats and all their other belongings into the auditorium. During the intermission, most people also didn't bother getting out of their seats. They just stayed there, and only a few people were interested in getting snacks and drinks from the bar. This was totally a different behaviour compared to the German audience. And perhaps the most interesting and slightly annoying thing - the audience claps, almost every time, after every movement. The whole practice of not clapping in between movements of a multi-movement piece is not known here in Greece it seems.
In any case, the concert was nevertheless interesting, and there is a separate article for my thoughts on the content, as always. It's just that I noticed certain cultural differences when observing the audience that I figured it was also useful to pen my thoughts about it down.
