We booked tickets for a Saturday evening (7:30 p.m.) performance in March. I booked the tickets several weeks in advance and got good seats. In terms of music quality, I personally could not distinguish between this and the Atlanta Symphony. We very much enjoyed the performance. I will now list the logistical pros and cons. Obviously, if you live closer to metro Atlanta, this destination is 1.5 - 2 hours away. You will need to factor that in to your planning. Our concert ended around 9:45 p.m. You can either make a weekend getaway out of it (as we did, with a hotel close by) or drive home late at night. Parking is very convenient; there is a free parking deck literally across the street from the River Center concert hall. There was the expected minor jam in exiting after the performance, but that can't be avoided anywhere. The venue is at the edge of the downtown business district. You can park in the deck beforehand and easily walk to a number of restaurants (from whiskey bars to fine dining) prior to the concert. There are also hotels (at least 2) in the area within a short walk, though we stayed about a mile away. The only caveat I'd add regarding ticket-ordering: the online seating chart showed a section of seating close up. I felt that sitting a bit further back might be better, so I opted for row J. When we arrived, we found that row J was actually the 2nd row! They didn't sell tickets in row I, either. And in front of that was the stage. Why the map shows rows A - H when they apparently don't exist, I cannot say... We were staring up at the orchestra (close up, definitely). If I booked another visit, I'd opt for something no closer than row S. Prices were about $40 apiece for our seats. This is much lower than corresponding tickets for the ASO, definitely. So, depending on your tolerance for driving (especially post-concert), this is definitely a viable alternative to the ASO. You could probably compare prices plus parking and hotel fees to see if you'd still spend less on an overnight trip here than a trip to downtown ATL. And to be clear, I have nothing against the ASO and have been to some of their concerts. However, it was much easier and less expensive to get good symphony tickets here than in Atlanta. read more