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Berklee, the world’s largest independent music college, boasts this premier venue. The great acoustics ensure that some of the most highly distinguished jazz, folk, and world musicians play here.

Home to ten independent theater companies, three stages and a gallery, the BCA is the cornerstone of the South End arts scene. The artists who perform and exhibit here are generally cutting edge, presenting work every bit as provocative as you might find in New York.

Expect a party just as much as a performance at this North End favorite. Public participation is an integral part of the Improv’s frenetically paced productions, which usually leave the audience applauding raucously.

Harvard’s Loeb Drama Center trains the university’s performing arts students and houses one of New England’s best theater companies, the American Repertory Theatre. The ART constantly balances the familiar with the new, presenting unorthodox stagings of Shakespeare, work by up-and-coming playwrights, and spirited plays for children.

Dozens of local orchestral and choral ensembles call the NEC’s Jordan Hall home. Built at the turn of the 20th century and renowned for its intimacy and beautiful acoustics, the space was recently added to the National Registry of Historic Landmarks. The students and faculty participate in more than 100 recitals each year, which are free and open to the public. Tickets are available two hours before the performance.

Located in Harvard’s splendid Memorial Hall (see Memorial Hall), this theater has hosted many luminaries over its 120 plus years. Great performers of the past century have graced its intimate stage, including mime artist Marcel Marceau, and the theater has counted Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Ralph Waldo Emerson among its early audiences.

The storied home of the internationally renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall is one of the world’s most acoustically perfect concert venues. Its recent 100th anniversary season brought such notables as Tony Bennett and André Previn to town. The BSO also frequently hosts sought-after guest conductors and soloists.