One of the world's most highly regarded concert halls is also home to one of the world's finest orchestras—a rare coupling that results in musically innovative performances and beloved classics. Symphony Hall, built in 1900, was the first orchestral music venue designed with acoustic principles in mind. It retains its cutting edge, particularly when the 125-year-old Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) takes the stage. If you chance to hear the 4,500-pipe Aeolian-Skinner organ, you'll remember it for a lifetime.

The BSO performed its 2005 season under the rigorous baton of James Levine, his inaugural as music director. The very popular Boston Pops, a subsection of the BSO, perform "concerts of a lighter kind of music," as described by BSO founder Henry Lee Higginson. –Kim Grant

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