Booking for Hamburg Ballet

[Aruna S]

Help wanted, please, with booking for the Hamburg Ballet. I was in two minds whether to start a new topic to ask my questions but thought they would probably fit in here.

 

Booking for the new season opens later this month and I have been looking at the seating plan of the Opera House and trying to get an idea of what seats to book. Looking at availability for Liliom (link to the plan here https://tickets.rzsthh.de/staatsoper/HallPlanBooking.aspx?msg=0&ret=17&eventid=2116&e=2116 ) I noticed that the first row of the balcony costs exactly the same (i.e. highest price) as parts of the orchestra stalls, while in Stuttgart those seats were cheaper, so in terms of price there's nothing to be gained by choosing balcony over stalls.  Since it's a relatively modern building I'm assuming it would be well-raked, would this be a fair assessment? If not, of course, the first row of the balcony would be infinitely preferable.

 

Some stalls seats are in a cheaper category than those in the same row: in row 3, for instance, it's price group 1 (107 Euros) while the seats at the ends are in price group 2 (95 Euros), while row 5 is mainly group 2 with the end seats in group 3 (85 Euros). Is the view from those end seats restricted enough to warrant a cheaper price?  

 

I would be most grateful for any advice. Thanks very much!

[alison]

Hello, afds.  After a bit of thought, I decided to move this to a new thread in the hope that more people will spot it and that it might be easier to find if anyone wants similar information in the future.

[alison]

Come to think of it, after a bad recent experience at the London Coliseum, you might also want to check on legroom in the front row of any tiers!

[Aruna S]

Thanks for moving it, Alison! 

[Jan McNulty]

I don't go in the circle very often but every circle I have ever been in seems much more cramped than the stalls.  Sorry I haven't been to Hamburg so I can't comment on this theatre.

[Aruna S]

Janet, I think the Opera Garnier would be an exception. The "Balcon" seats are much more comfortable than the orchestra stalls, the seats towards the back of the stalls were very cramped even for someone as short as I am!

[Naomi M]

I have been to Hamburg State Theatre a few times but I only sat on the front of the orchestra seats so not maybe my opinions might not be reliable. The Orchestra level is raked but not so much, especially quite flat in the first few rows and my view from the 5th row was quite blocked by tall men in front. But i assume it would look better on the latter rows. But at least rakes are better than old opera house type venues (such as Garnier, Stuttgart, Bolshoi, ROH)

 

I haven't been up in the balcony seats in Hamburg but the balconies here are mostly Lodges (small rooms) and they are quite close to the stage according to my friends who have been there. (if you see a photo of the theatre you can assume so)  

 

Here's a photo on how the seats look like.

http://blog-imgs-51-origin.fc2.com/d/e/r/derhiroppie/48_20130616102217.jpg

 

As afds has said, the Balcon at Garnier are very comfortable, and also Lodges in old type opera houses are also good seats to sit comfortably.

[Aruna S]

Naomi, the link is giving me a 404 Error page  .

I do tend to sit in the stalls because I like being closer to the stage, except for Paris where I now aim for Balcon and nothing else. At Stuttgart I was in row 4 of the stalls and had a great view. When you were in row 5, do you remember whether there was anything blocking the view from the seats right at the end? Thank you!

[Naomi M]

Sorry, that link is viewable on my computer but it didn't work for you afds.

 

I tried to upload here, hope you can see this.

https://twitter.com/naomip_86/status/369872873298464768/photo/1

 

I am quite smallish (160cm) so just a tall man obstructed by view, so if you are not so small, it would be okay I assume. Maybe the rake is about the same as that of Stuttgart. 

 

I just checked some curtain call photos my friend took at about Row 5 and it looked quite okay.

[Aruna S]

Yes, thanks, this link works. The theatre looks huge!

I'm actually shorter than you, 157 cms...I think I'll try for the seats at the end of the row. Of course all this pre-planning may be completely useless if Hamburg is like Stuttgart and everything sells out in a flash.

[toursenlair]

It depends on what performance you're going to.  Some sell out but others don't and I think you can usually get a single ticket. A friend of mine decided on a whim to go for the Ballet Days this year, which often do sell out, and she booked her tix just two weeks before and was able to get good stalls seats for every performance except R&J, for which she managed to get a return on the day.

[Naomi M]

afds, glad you could see the pic! So it is luck, if there isn't a tall man in front of you, you will get a good view. I have been on a seat close to the end and the view was good. Fingers crossed for you. It will be good if you were alright at Stuttgart Row 4.

 

And for tickets, it is just as what Katherine says. My friend also said R&J was sold out for the Ballet Days. But there are return tickets. Stuttgart also have return tickets but Krabat this year was so popular it was so difficult to grab one. (but I managed 2 weeks before performance)

[annamicro]

The seats in balconies in Hamburg have a great view (that first one has the same price as the orchestra stalls as the grand tier in London, but since the theatre is smaller it has a closer view).

The first part of the parkett is not raked so the view is very good only in the very first rows, but the second part is raked and it's excellent.

Loges can be risky, but the ticket price reflects quite well the view you can expect.

There are children pillow (real ones, made in the same tissue if the seat, not white plastic inflatable as at the ROH) to ask for and they can add 5 cm.

Btw Liliom tickets have been in sale fir months: sales up to the 31st of October opened in April or May.

[Aruna S]

Thank you, annamicro. Would the second part of the parkett start around row 12? That's when the top price suddenly reappears.

The Liliom chart was just as an example, next Monday is when the rest of the season goes on sale.

[annamicro]

Would the second part of the parkett start around row 12? That's when the top price suddenly reappears.

I don't remember exactly but it seems a reasonable row for rake start, especially if supported by ticket prices.

[Aruna S]

Mission accomplished! Many, many thanks for all the help and advice,  I don't know what I would do without this lovely forum.

[alison]

Do let us know how the performance goes, won't you?

[Aruna S]

Yes of course I will! It's several months away though.

[Aruna S]

Update. My seat, 21 in row 11, turned out to be perfect, right in the middle and with a decent rake. Naturally I had a lady with a large head in front of me but thanks to the rake it was OK.

The cast I saw was Alexandre Riabko as Onegin, Silvia Azzoni as Tatiana and Thiago Bordin as Lensky in what I later found out was his last appearance in Hamburg in this role, which explained the flower throw and prolonged applause. It was a wonderful performance all round, with the exception of the orchestra which seemed uncertain in some places. I found that quite surprising. I've often wondered how many years are supposed to have passed between the Larin party and the ball in Act III.  In this production, Gremin on his first appearance looked young, whereas I'd always thought he was supposed to be siginificantly older than Onegin. The grey hair only appeared in Act III.

 

Many thanks for the help in selecting my seat, and for any Brahms fans out there, the Brahms Museum on Peterstrasse is run by two extremely knowledgeable ladies who make one's visit a treat.  

[annamicro]

Update. My seat, 21 in row 11, turned out to be perfect, right in the middle and with a decent rake. Naturally I had a lady with a large head in front of me but thanks to the rake it was OK.

The cast I saw was Alexandre Riabko as Onegin, Silvia Azzoni as Tatiana and Thiago Bordin as Lensky in what I later found out was his last appearance in Hamburg in this role, which explained the flower throw and prolonged applause. It was a wonderful performance all round, with the exception of the orchestra which seemed uncertain in some places. I found that quite surprising. I've often wondered how many years are supposed to have passed between the Larin party and the ball in Act III.  In this production, Gremin on his first appearance looked young, whereas I'd always thought he was supposed to be siginificantly older than Onegin. The grey hair only appeared in Act III.

 

Many thanks for the help in selecting my seat, and for any Brahms fans out there, the Brahms Museum on Peterstrasse is run by two extremely knowledgeable ladies who make one's visit a treat.  

 

Row 11 is the first raked one. I was sitting in row 10 for the Nijinsky Gala, ready with the pillow; I was lucky because I was sitting behind two shortish ladies...probably football fans, since they left at the first intermission, making my view nearly perfect. :-)

 

I saw Azzoni and Riabko in their first two performances in December 2012 and they were already fantastic, I can only try to imagine how they have matured the roles, being great actors and artists. We were lucky to have the final pdd in The Gala program as a late addition, since Azzoni wasn't sure to be able to dance Tatiana, having been off for a few weeks for a medical problem. They were among the absolute highlights of the evening and you have been lucky to see them in the whole ballet, even if with Silvia maybe not at real 100%.

Thiago Bordin is absolutely fantastic as Lensky: his adagio in this role is one of the things I'll miss more now that he is quitting with ballet moving to NDT. It has been a long farewell: he was crying and crying in Vienna in May after his last Armand, but he was more able to contain his emotion in the last regular show with Hamburg Ballet (as a side dancer in Riabko's Vaslaw) and his very last show with Hamburg Ballet the day after, in the Gala. He is not only an fantastic artist but also a lovely boy and he will be really missed in Hamburg.

A pity you have not had Leslie Heylmann as Olga: she is great, despite not looking naturally young she has such an energy and freshness that she results perfectly credible and ideal for the role. Chinellato is naturally young an probably she has been good too, but I've never seen her.

You were very lucky to have not Carsten Jung (the worst Gremin I've seen) but Dario Franconi as Prince Gremin: he was fantastic in Cojocaru cast in March, the closest I've seen to the unique "Prince Bennet Gremin Gartside". I remember  that usually in the ballet Gremin is more or less the same age of Onegin, even if some companies, like La Scala, often use for the role relics difficult to use in any other thing. If I remember well there are 10 years in the ballet between the first and the last part, less in the poem.

As a bonus you also had the great Anna Polikarpova as Madame Larina: one of her last performances, she was the queen of the Nijisnky gala, her very last show.

 

A great seat and a great cast: you cannot ask for more! ;-)