Hertz Hall

I unfortunately had a horrible encounter with Nadia Endara for one of the amazing UC Berkeley orchestra concerts. This review is solely representative of her extremely mean and condescending attitude, and not at all for the amazing quality of the performers and the event venue. :)I was late to the concert and told her I was very sorry and could wait until intermission to enter. Nadia's first words to me were "Well if you were a true friend, you would've come earlier". She then spent 5 minutes berating me for trying to scam her with a fake ticket (it was not fake) and still refused to let me into the venue despite showing her my confirmation and stealing my payment for the ticket. I was extremely patient with Nadia despite her disgusting demeanor. The most I told her off was something along the lines of "ok I understand, but I would appreciate if you would approach it in a nicer way". (she did not take that well at all)At the end of the day, Nadia's attitude was rude, off-putting, and downright mean. I was dumbfounded by how quickly she resorted to name-calling and berating a total stranger (and paying customer!). She could've just politely told me that it was too late to enter the venue, which I would've accepted, but she made snarky back-handed comments that were completely unnecessary. Nadia is a horrible representation of the UCBSO and Hertz Hall professional community!

Recently attended a touring Final Fantasy orchestra concert here (even if you don't play the video games I still recommend going to one of these concerts.....sure context helps but the musical pieces are still beautiful without it!!). Venue is alright. I agree with another reviewer in that the concert hall gets pretty humid. Had to take a breather (quite literally) during intermission and went outside for some fresh cool air. Also, not the biggest fan of the velvet chairs; might be a nit-pick as a material-texture thing, but with the room being a heat box I can't help but imagine how much sweat is embedded into the chairs here lol (sorry for the imagery).Ehh was leaning towards giving this place 3 stars but I'll give it 4 because of the great ease of finding parking that's within short walking distance (at least for evening shows). Not a venue that you should avoid at all costs, but there are still certain things that I want you to be mindful of!

Acoustic in the concert hall is pretty good. However, the overall concert going experience is not that great. If it's at full capacity, it can get very muggy and hot - they don't turn on cooling. Also, the seats are creaky and uncomfortable if you happen to be seated for a prolonged period of time. Definitely time for an upgrade / renovation.

Hertz me now...or Hertz me never!As Bay Area auditoriums go, Hertz Hall is fairly under the radar given its semi-hidden bucolic location on the UC campus, but it has great acoustics for classical recitals, which frankly is the only reason I ever go. There are only 750 seats in the place, but the vaunted ceilings make for a clear sound.A couple of years back, I saw Kiwi baritone Jonathan Lemalu singing Mozart, Faure and cabaret songs from William Bolcom. Glorious. And this past Sunday, I was there to see my favorite singer, the extraordinary countertenor David Daniels, and he was in top form with his frequent accompanist Martin Katz - a program of Brahms, old English songs and his specialty, Handel arias.Mesmerizing and clear as a bell from my third row seat. During breaks, you can go outside and enjoy a nice view of the Campanile peeking through the trees. So get classy for a change, drop the bong and sit with the bluehair and sweater set to enjoy some mighty fine compositions. Culture with a capital K!

I attended last night's 8pm- 10pm concert featuring Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 and Beethoven's No. 3 Eroica. The performance was delightful, and it was a pleasure to see a robust and diverse audience along with me supporting the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. I was surprised to learn that the orchestra was comprised of both full- time students and community members, and that these musicians, as I understood, were performing sophisticated pieces on two days of practice-per-week together and a pre- performance rehearsal on top of their normal schedules. I wonder how audiences, particularly those commuting or those generally averse to late evening engagements for whatever reason, would respond to more frequent performances earlier in the day over a longer time frame. After last night's performance, I thought I heard yells in the back for an encore after the rousing conclusion to the Beethoven piece. I certainly wouldn't have minded.

As a member of the audience:Not sure whether concert hall isn't good or performance wasn't good. I came here recently to hear a performance by Bronfman, who played Prokofiev's #8 and #9 piano sonatas. The sound he produced just wasn't very satisfying. Chairs are comfortable, but maybe acoustics aren't very good. As a performer:I've also performed here when I was student as a piano noon concert soloist back in Fall 2011, and I performed half a noon concert in Spring 2012. In Fall 2012 and Spring 2013, I performed as part of a trio and a duet, respectively. The piano was really good, and I really enjoyed it! In Spring 2014, I performed as part of UC Berkeley's Baroque Ensemble, playing the harpsichord. Cool experience too.

I was only familiar with Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley, so it was nice to learn that there is another music hall on campus where you can go to both free, and paid, concerts.Once you're inside the doors, you need to go upstairs in order to get to the main orchestra level.The upstairs balcony looks like it has ample seating and hopefully the acoustics are as good up there are they were in the main seating area.The lobby is nice and has restrooms and an elevator : )I would definitely return to listen to another concert here.

Great acoustics! Our chorus performs here twice a year. Only drawback is access to the middle of the seating; there is no center aisle so you have to pass about 15 seats to sit in the center. Large ornate organ is a bonus!

This is the premiere music venue on the UC Berkeley campus for classical music: orchestra and chamber concerts and pipe organ recitals. It's unfortunate that the very fine tracker organ is underutilized for public recitals.

I love the repertoire of performers that come to Hertz Hall but I really dislike the venue. There's no central aisle so if you're sitting in there middle seats you're trapped in there. And the seats are squeezed together. But that's a minor inconvenience. The acoustics are poor. I've been in much larger venues where the sound of singers' voices or individual musicians playing carries distinctly to the back without amplification. Yet at Hertz the sounds are so muddy. Then there's the fact that the lights are random. I haven't been to a performance here yet where, as is normal at most other venues, the lights are dimmed when the performers come onstage and the lights come up when they leave the stage. Here they are dimmed at random times at random levels or not dimmed at all. I'll still keep coming because I would hate to miss out on the cultural offerings but this hall does not do the performers a service, IMO.