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Interesting thread!

Not again!

Sorry everyone. My original topic was in regards to my impending piano recital. (This Sunday). It is going to be very crowded and I was wondering if anyone had experience with crowded "living room" recitals....I removed the post because it just seemed like a really boring question and then there would be lots of boring answers and life is just too dang short for that! So I deleted it and here we are.

Yes, I do have experience with living room recitals. My son's first piano teacher had a rather large living room, and in addition to holding student recitals there I once attended a packed SRO performance by a fabulous young Polish pianist (Anna Kijanowska) who was testing out her Chopin/Szymanowski Mazurka recital. The cozy confines of a living room made an excellent venue. The distance between the audience and the pianist is minimal, so the emotional contact is direct. In addition, that frees up the pianist to talk to the audience more naturally.

Secondly, my son has played in "living room" recitals here, sponsored by our local music society. The society would gather together a few of the kids that had won support at their audition and present a cozy recital in a large house. This was done as a teaser to get more local people to join the society and as a thank you for the continued support from existing loyal members. Again, the distance between the performer and the audience shrinks, and this is often a plus.