If we had a dollar for every time we include seeing the LA Philharmonic perform at the Hollywood Bowl on a list of great things to do in the summer, well, we'd have a lot of dollars.
It turns out we—and you—could also buy a lot of tickets with those dollars. There are a ton of concerts every summer at the Bowl where tickets are still available for just a couple bucks. Concerts in the Classical Tuesdays and Thursday series concerts all have seats that go for as cheap as a single dollar, and all concerts in the Jazz Series too. The early birds got all of those, but you can still snag tickets for less than $10 to a bunch of concerts. This isn't a new thing or a big secret—it's just a really good, cheap way to spend a summer night in LA. Here are just a few programs we recommend:
1. Carmina Burana conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. (Tuesday, July 21 and Thursday, July 23; 8pm). See music director Gustavo Dudamel lead the LA Phil, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the National Children's Chorus through Orff's epic piece. Even if you're not a classical music buff, you'll recognize some of Carmina Burana—and it's a great, overwhelming-in-a-good-way piece to hear outdoors. Two pieces by contemporary choral composer Eric Whitacre round out the program.
2. Audra MacDonald and the American Ballet Theatre. (Tuesday, Sept 1 and Thursday, Sept 3; 8pm) The LA Phil will play classics by American composer Leonard Bernstein, including the West Side Story overture, and Fancy Free with dancers from ABT. Two of the country's premiere artistic ensembles, and $8 seats. This is not a drill.
3. Joshua Bell and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. (Tuesday, Aug 11; 8pm) You might recognize world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell from a video that went viral (almost before 'going viral' was a thing) of him busking at a DC subway stop, recognized only by a few cultured commuters. Anyways, if you go to this concert, he'll be the opposite of invisible. Bell will both conduct the orchestra and perform Bruch's violin concerto.
4. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Michael Franti & Spearhead. (Wednesday, Aug 26; 8pm) This show is going to be a party—funky music, jazz and good vibes all around. An $8 dance party at the Bowl? Get on it.
And many more. Check out the whole series calendar here.
The easiest way to find the cheapest tickets is to select 'find seats for me' and select the amount you want to pay instead of using the map of the venue to search for seats. Then, just select the price level of your choice, and you know how to do the rest. You can also add Park & Ride (making your night cost about $20), or just take Metro to Hollywood & Highland and walk up to the Bowl to make it a really cheap date night.
So if you haven't already followed our advice and gone to see the LA Phil at the Bowl, this is a pretty good opportunity. If you've already been and want to go back this summer, well, it just doesn't get much cheaper than this to see a world-class orchestra in a world-class venue.
Want more ideas for summer date nights? Check out this list for 74 other ideas.