Borromeo String Quartet @ The New England Conservatory

***FreePlus Rating: 9/10***
Quality music but hard to sit still for so long especially after a long day at work.

I have lived in Boston for nearly 20 years and found out only last week that there are free concerts at the New England Conservatory. Even though I'm not a classical music aficionado, I do appreciate musical talent of any kind and free things without gimmicks. So I ventured out to my first classical music concert at Jordan Hall last Tuesday. Not surprisingly, the crowd was made up of mostly a graying demographic but there were some younger fans in attendance as well. Seating was first come first serve. We got there about 15 minutes before the show and the place was about half full. There is almost no bad seat in the house at Jordan Hall which is an amazingly beautiful concert hall that first opened in 1903.

The concert started right on time at 8 pm sharp. The Borromeo Sting Quartet is a renowned group with many awards and critical acclaims, most recently winning the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2007. They performed Beethoven's Opus 130, 131 and 132. While I listened with the untrained ears of a common pedestrian, I was awed by the incredible sound coming from just four instruments. You feel the sense of time passing and holding still at the same time listening to music composed by a man from over two hundred years ago. It also makes you appreciate the thousands of hours these individuals have practiced to play an instrument as expertly as they do now. I would highly encourage everyone to go and see a classical music concert at least one time if they have never been.

Events @ New England Conservatory: http://concerts.newenglandconservatory.edu/
All events are free unless noted otherwise.

Borromeo String Quartet: http://www.borromeoquartet.org/

Tips: Prepare to hold your bladder because the pieces are long and intermission might not come until nearly two hours into the concert. I went to the restroom after the first opus and I was locked out of the concert hall for the entire second piece which was about 45 minutes long.