Letters

I take exception to Mr. Barista's article in the April issue (p. 44) where Ted Deedee, managing director of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, reports that the Symphony Hall Boston takes "several weeks to construct platforms over existing seating, and then can't do anything but the Boston Pops for several weeks."

In fact, the conversion from "symphony seating" to "pops seating" takes a mere eight hours. It is, however, quite labor intensive, with 25 men engaged for the full period of time. Conversion back to Symphony seating takes the same 25 men about 10 hours.

On more than one occasion, we have converted the hall from the symphony configuration to pops starting Sunday morning, had a dinner party for several hundred that evening, and re-converted back to symphony for a 10:30 a.m. rehearsal the next day.

The system engineered in 1899 still works today. We have a new elevator and wheeled seat carriers, but the basic premise to remove 1,486 seats and 400 wood and steel supports along with the raked platform remains the same.

Robert L. Gleason, Director of Hall Facilities, The Boston Symphony Orchestra