The doors to Jones Hall open one hour before each performance. Street-level entrances provide access to the main lobby from Louisiana Street and the side entrance on Texas Avenue. The courtyard entrance is accessible through the tunnel from the parking garage.

Parking is available in the Theater District Parking Garage located directly across the street from Jones Hall. There are entrances to this garage on Capitol and Texas. Three parking levels are available and the cost is $6 per car. You can enter Jones Hall from the tunnel entrance on the green level of the parking garage.

At Jones Hall, gentlemen usually wear coat and tie and ladies generally wear dresses or pant suits. The most important thing is for you to be comfortable!

Children six years old and older are welcome at all Houston Symphony events. Children of all ages, including infants, are admitted to the Weatherford Family Concerts performances. Any child over the age of one must have a ticket.

The Houston Symphony makes every effort to begin concerts on time. Late seating is allowed only at designated intervals as determined by the conductor.

The emergency phone at Jones Hall is located at the backstage security guard station. The caller must provide your name and seat location (door, row and seat); an usher will notify you of the call. The emergency phone number is (713) 238-2384.

The following accommodations are available for the comfort and convenience of our patrons with special needs:

• Reserved parking spaces are available in the Theater District Parking Garage on the green level near the Jones Hall tunnel entrance, with a stair-free route to the main elevator located on the courtyard level.
• Near the elevator are modified restrooms and a wheelchair-accessible water fountain.
• There are wheelchair curb ramps on Capitol Street and Texas Avenue.
• Wheelchair and companion seating are available in the auditorium. To request these seats when ordering tickets to individual concerts, call (713) 224-7575 Monday–Saturday, 10 AM–6 PM.
• FM headsets and loops for the hearing impaired are available in the lobby at no charge for each performance. Please ask an usher for assistance.

Houston Symphony performances usually feature 89 musicians on the Jones Hall stage.

Cameras, cellular phones, recording and paging devices and alarms on watches are prohibited in the Hall.

For a classical concert the acoustical ceiling is lowered for a total of 2,167 available seats. For a pops concert the acoustical ceiling is raised to add the balcony for a seating capacity of 2,883.

A variety of food and beverages, including hot entrees before the concerts, is available in the lobby. Food and beverages are permitted in the lobby area only.

A city ordinance forbids smoking in public buildings, including Jones Hall.

There are five telephone and public restroom areas in Jones Hall:

• Courtyard level, past the main elevator and up the steps; accessible by elevator to all levels of the Hall.
• Orchestra level, right side, down the stairs near the Texas Avenue entrance.
• Box/Mezzanine level, on the right side of the Hall.
• Balcony level, right side of the Hall.
• Modified restrooms for disabled patrons are located on the Courtyard level near the main entrance.

Call the Houston Symphony Customer Service Center at (713) 224-7575 Monday–Saturday, 10 AM–6 PM to order concert tickets during office hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. A handling fee of $2.75 per ticket will be added to all phone orders. Tickets may also be purchased at the Customer Service Center window on the street level of Jones Hall one hour prior to concerts.

Buy 10 or more tickets and save. For group tickets, call (713) 238-1435..

• Subscribers may exchange their subscription tickets by phone, fax, mail, online or in person. To exchange by phone, call the Customer Service Center at (713) 224-7575 Monday–Saturday, 10 AM–6 PM.
• Ticket exchanges must be made by 5 p.m. the business day prior to the date printed on the ticket.
• Houston Symphony Fidelity Investments Classical Series (18 concerts) subscribers and Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pops subscribers may exchange tickets for a regularly scheduled subscription concert, including Classical Season concerts and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pops concerts
• 6- or 9-concert classical season subscribers may exchange tickets for any other regularly scheduled Classical Season concert, subject to availability.
• Tickets to Subscriber Special concerts are not exchangeable.
• While there is no fee for exchanging, upgrade fees (due to upgraded seating or changes in the day of the performance) may apply and are due at the time the request is made.

Unused tickets to past concerts may not be exchanged or donated.

Free pre-concert discussions in the hall, sponsored by Fluor, begin 50 minutes before each Classical Season concert on the Orchestra level. These discussions offer musical insights into the repertory at that performance.

When all available tickets to a concert have been sold, standby procedures may go into effect. Standby tickets allow the Houston Symphony to accommodate patrons with last-minute seats from tickets that have been donated or are not being used.

Purchase your standby tickets at the Standby window at the Jones Hall box office. The box office opens 1 hour and 30 minutes before the concert.

Just before the concert, standby Patrons may enter the Hall and take an unoccupied seat.

Subject to availability, specially discounted tickets (or "Rush tickets") may be offered to students and senior citizens (65 years and older) with valid picture IDs for Classical and Pops subscription concerts at Jones Hall. Rush tickets for Classical Season concerts cost $11. Rush tickets for Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pops concerts are $15. Rush tickets can be purchased starting at 12 p.m. on the day of the performance. Phone purchases are subject to a $2.75 per ticket service charge.

Rush tickets are subject to seating availability.

Rush tickets are limited to one per valid picture ID.

The setup of the symphony orchestra is a very interesting subject, one which conductors and orchestral musicians have been debating for at least the last hundred years. If one were to attend concerts in music capitals around the world one would see a wide variety of seating plans. Ultimately each maestro must decide for himself how the orchestra should be seated.

After spending his first season as music director here, getting a feel for the orchestra and the acoustics of Jones Hall, Maestro Graf decided that he would initiate the seating change that is now in place for subscription concerts. Maestro Graf is of course an extremely experienced conductor and to him the current set up is what sounds best. It is also consistent with the way most of the music we play was conceived. It is a fact that, well into the 20th century, composers wrote for an orchestra in which the first and second violins were typically split to the conductor's left and right. It should also be added that Maestro Graf did consult with the principal players of the orchestra and there was a lively discussion about the merits and effects of the change from various points of view within the ranks of the players. Consultation and discussion will continue. Ultimately, Maestro Graf will do what he thinks best serves the music, which is properly the role of the music director.

As music in the schools wanes and technology and popular culture become ever more engulfing, symphony orchestras are trying to attract the widest possible audiences to classical music to ensure we have music-lovers for the future. Therefore, today's audiences consist of young and old, novice and experienced listener, first time visitors to Jones Hall and subscribers who have been with us for decades. While we believe in presenting the best possible musical experience, we also want to encourage spontaneity and comfort. Applause between movements can be seen as an encouraging sign of new and enthusiastic additions to the classical music fold.