Culture at bargain prices, relatively speaking, is made available by most of the major performing arts companies in the region. But discount programs and rules are sometimes as confusing as a Wagner opera plot.
Here are details for some money-saving programs.
Keep in mind that the majors don't always have the best stuff going. You can often spend far less to attend a performance by one of the smaller groups that thrive in the area. Some have their own discount programs -- it never hurts to call and ask. Also, groups of all sizes sometimes send out notices of other, one-time bargains to those on their mailing lists.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, August 21, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Cultural discounts: An article in the July 13 Business section on discounted tickets for cultural events said the price of Hollywood Bowl rush tickets (for selected seats not sold as of two hours before a performance) for people 65 and older was $1. The price is $10.
Orchestras
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Summer season
* Home: Hollywood Bowl
* Dates: Tuesday and Thursday nights through Sept. 11
* Website: www.hollywoodbowl.com
* Regular tickets: $1-$95. The $1 tickets are way up at the top of the 17,500-seat venue, from which you'll need the Hubble telescope to get a good view.
* Senior rush: Unsold tickets are available for $1 to people 65 and over, beginning two hours before performances. You could get lucky -- any non-box seat can be sold for that pittance. But you could end up in Hubble territory.
* Free: Morning rehearsals on concert days can be heard, but not much can be seen because the stage is blocked by a sun screen. There's no sun screen over the audience -- beware of melting. Rehearsal times vary.
2008-09 season
* Home: Walt Disney Concert Hall
* Dates: Oct. 2-May 31
* Website: www.laphil.com
* Regular tickets: $42-$147
* Bargains: If a chorus isn't needed for a program, chorus benches behind the orchestra are sold for $40 a seat. Two weeks before a performance, the price drops to $15 if seats are still available. Orchestra sound isn't bad from back there, but don't expect to hear soloists clearly.
* Student/senior rush: Selected unsold tickets go on sale two hours before a performance for $10 apiece.
* Free concerts:
Sept. 25-26, 8 p.m.: Jayce Ogren conducts. Program to be announced.
Sept. 27, 1:30 p.m.: Performance for children (parents are allowed) of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," conducted by Lionel Bringuier.
Dec. 18: At First Baptist Church, Pomona. Details to be announced.
Pacific Symphony
2008-09 season
* Home: Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa
* Dates: Sept. 18-June 13
* Website: www.pacificsymphony.org
* Regular tickets: $18-$185
* Free tickets: Join the contact list at www.pacificsymphony.org/sign-up and you'll get a voucher for two free tickets. One sign-up per household.
* Student rewards: Students who sign up at www.pacificsymphony.org/students are given the chance to buy tickets for $10 apiece, if available, a week before selected concerts.
* Student/senior rush: An hour before performances in the orchestra's Classics series, unsold tickets go for $20.
* Free concerts:
Aug. 2, 7 p.m.: Oso Viejo Community Park, Mission Viejo
Aug. 3, 7 p.m.: Brea Downtown Center, Brea
Aug. 16, 7 p.m.: Heritage Park, Irvine
Aug. 17, 7 p.m.: Pittsford Park, Lake Forest
Opera and choral
Los Angeles Opera
2008-09 season
* Home: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Music Center
* Dates: Sept. 6-June 21
* Website: www.laopera.com
* Regular tickets: $20 (obstructed view) to $250
* Student/senior rush: If a performance isn't sold out, $20 tickets might be made available 90 minutes before curtain. Rush tickets are seldom available at matinees, which often sell out. Call the audience services line at (213) 972-8001 -- it operates before performances.
* Free concerts: Singers from the company will perform several concerts in the spring at community libraries and at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Dates and times to be announced.
Opera Pacific
2008-09 season
* Home: Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa
* Dates: Oct. 22-March 29
* Website: www.operapacific.org
* Regular tickets: $30-$200
* Free tickets: They're given to onstage "extras."
* Student/senior rush: When available, these tickets generally are sold for about $30 on the day of the performance.
* Free concert: July 20, 6 p.m. An hourlong "Opera Soup" performance by singers who regularly perform with the company in Grant Howell Park, Corona del Mar. Picnicking is encouraged.
Los Angeles Master Chorale
2008-09 season
* Home: Walt Disney Concert Hall
* Dates: Oct. 12-May 31
* Website: www.lamc.org
* Regular tickets: $19-$124
* Student/senior rush: There isn't one. The group has done away with its rush programs in favor of offering $19 tickets to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis. These seats, which are to the side of the chorus, go on sale Sept. 2.
* Free concert: April 24, 1 p.m. An ensemble of chorale singers will perform as part of the High School Choir Festival at Disney Hall.
Theater
Ahmanson Theatre
2008-09 season
* Home: Ahmanson Theatre, Music Center
* Dates: Sept. 3-June 21
* Website: www.centertheatregroup.org
* Regular tickets: $20-$80 for plays, $30-$100 for musicals
