Seating Plans

THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

Introduction

Orchestration
by section

Here are
seating
plans from
various
Philharmonia
concerts
during the
2001/2
season. They
repay close
study, as it
becomes
clear that
instruments,
the
conductor
and the hall
itself are all
factors in
deciding how
an orchestra
is seated.
Click on the
pictures to

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Orchestration
by instrument

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Andrew Hugill
Philharmonia

Seating Plans

give an A4
size,
printable
copy of each
plan in
landscape
format.

The Philharmonia Orchestra, seen from above. This is a typical seating layout. The first diagram below corresponds exactly to this layout
(apart from the harp, which is seated behind the violins in the picture, but is absent from the diagram).

Now for some other seating plans:

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Seating Plans

Triple woodwind, but five horns and four trumpets make for a strong line of brass.

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Seating Plans

Lorin Maazel conducts Brahms Symphonies 1 and 4. Quadruple woodwind.

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Seating Plans

Note the position of the orchestral piano, harp and celeste.

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Seating Plans

A concerto layout, with the cellos to the left of the conductor.

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Seating Plans

A very large orchestra, again with C. von Dohnyani's favoured position for the cellos.

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Seating Plans

This plan includes seven percussion, orchestral piano and two harps.

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Seating Plans

A similar arrangement to the plan above, but with a celeste in place of the piano.

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Seating Plans

Vladimir Ashkenazy's favoured layout, but with a vastly expanded orchestra.

Quadruple wind, seven horns, piano, celeste, harp, organ, etc.!

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Seating Plans

CVD = Christoph von Dohnyani. His favoured string seatings once again,
but note the positions of the basses, brass and percussion. Presumably
the hall was a factor on this occasion.

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Seating Plans

This is the seating plan for a performance of Bartk's Music for

Strings, Percussion and Celeste which has an unusual symmetrical arrangement.

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Seating Plans

Brahms Symphony No. 1, as laid out for Maestro von Dohnyani.

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Seating Plans

And a CVD seating plan for quadruple woodwind.

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Seating Plans

Finally, Lorin Maazel's double wooodwind seating plan.

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