The lowdown on highbrow discounts

Culture at bargain prices, relatively speaking, is made available by most of the major performing arts companies in the region. But discount programs and rules are sometimes as confusing as a Wagner opera plot.

Here are details for some money-saving programs.

Keep in mind that the majors don’t always have the best stuff going. You can often spend far less to attend a performance by one of the smaller groups that thrive in the area. Some have their own discount programs -- it never hurts to call and ask. Also, groups of all sizes sometimes send out notices of other, one-time bargains to those on their mailing lists.

Orchestras

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Summer season

* Home: Hollywood Bowl

* Dates: Tuesday and Thursday nights through Sept. 11

* Website: www.hollywoodbowl.com

* Regular tickets: $1-$95. The $1 tickets are way up at the top of the 17,500-seat venue, from which you’ll need the Hubble telescope to get a good view.

* Senior rush: Unsold tickets are available for $1 to people 65 and over, beginning two hours before performances. You could get lucky -- any non-box seat can be sold for that pittance. But you could end up in Hubble territory.

* Free: Morning rehearsals on concert days can be heard, but not much can be seen because the stage is blocked by a sun screen. There’s no sun screen over the audience -- beware of melting. Rehearsal times vary.

2008-09 season

* Home: Walt Disney Concert Hall

* Dates: Oct. 2-May 31

* Website: www.laphil.com

* Regular tickets: $42-$147

* Bargains: If a chorus isn’t needed for a program, chorus benches behind the orchestra are sold for $40 a seat. Two weeks before a performance, the price drops to $15 if seats are still available. Orchestra sound isn’t bad from back there, but don’t expect to hear soloists clearly.

* Student/senior rush: Selected unsold tickets go on sale two hours before a performance for $10 apiece.

* Free concerts:

Sept. 25-26, 8 p.m.: Jayce Ogren conducts. Program to be announced.

Sept. 27, 1:30 p.m.: Performance for children (parents are allowed) of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” conducted by Lionel Bringuier.

Dec. 18: At First Baptist Church, Pomona. Details to be announced.

Pacific Symphony

2008-09 season

* Home: Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa

* Dates: Sept. 18-June 13

* Website: www.pacificsymphony.org

* Regular tickets: $18-$185

* Free tickets: Join the contact list at www.pacificsymphony.org/sign-up and you’ll get a voucher for two free tickets. One sign-up per household.

* Student rewards: Students who sign up at www.pacificsymphony.org/students are given the chance to buy tickets for $10 apiece, if available, a week before selected concerts.

* Student/senior rush: An hour before performances in the orchestra’s Classics series, unsold tickets go for $20.

* Free concerts:

Aug. 2, 7 p.m.: Oso Viejo Community Park, Mission Viejo

Aug. 3, 7 p.m.: Brea Downtown Center, Brea

Aug. 16, 7 p.m.: Heritage Park, Irvine

Aug. 17, 7 p.m.: Pittsford Park, Lake Forest

Opera and choral

Los Angeles Opera

2008-09 season

* Home: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Music Center

* Dates: Sept. 6-June 21

* Website: www.laopera.com

* Regular tickets: $20 (obstructed view) to $250

* Student/senior rush: If a performance isn’t sold out, $20 tickets might be made available 90 minutes before curtain. Rush tickets are seldom available at matinees, which often sell out. Call the audience services line at (213) 972-8001 -- it operates before performances.

* Free concerts: Singers from the company will perform several concerts in the spring at community libraries and at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Dates and times to be announced.

Opera Pacific

2008-09 season

* Home: Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa

* Dates: Oct. 22-March 29

* Website: www.operapacific.org

* Regular tickets: $30-$200

* Free tickets: They’re given to onstage “extras.”

* Student/senior rush: When available, these tickets generally are sold for about $30 on the day of the performance.

* Free concert: July 20, 6 p.m. An hourlong “Opera Soup” performance by singers who regularly perform with the company in Grant Howell Park, Corona del Mar. Picnicking is encouraged.

Los Angeles Master Chorale

2008-09 season

* Home: Walt Disney Concert Hall

* Dates: Oct. 12-May 31

* Website: www.lamc.org

* Regular tickets: $19-$124

* Student/senior rush: There isn’t one. The group has done away with its rush programs in favor of offering $19 tickets to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis. These seats, which are to the side of the chorus, go on sale Sept. 2.

* Free concert: April 24, 1 p.m. An ensemble of chorale singers will perform as part of the High School Choir Festival at Disney Hall.

Theater

Ahmanson Theatre

2008-09 season

* Home: Ahmanson Theatre, Music Center

* Dates: Sept. 3-June 21

* Website: www.centertheatregroup.org

* Regular tickets: $20-$80 for plays, $30-$100 for musicals

* Bargains: About three weeks before a show opens, as many as 3% of total tickets -- including some of the best seats in the house -- go on sale to the general public for $20 apiece. For the dates these Hot Tix will be made available, see the website. Two tickets maximum per person.

Mark Taper Forum

* Home: Mark Taper Forum, Music Center

* Dates: The theater, which has been undergoing renovation, reopens Aug. 30 with John Guare’s “The House of Blue Leaves.” The full season hasn’t been announced.

* Website: www.centertheatregroup.org

* Regular tickets: $20-$60 (up to $80 for musicals)

* Bargains: Same Hot Tix program as at the Ahmanson

Kirk Douglas Theatre

2008-09 season

* Home: Kirk Douglas Theatre, Culver City

* Dates: Sept. 21-Aug. 2

* Website: www.centertheatregroup.org

* Regular tickets: $20-$60 (up to $80 for musicals)

* Bargains: Same Hot Tix program as at the Ahmanson

South Coast Repertory

2008-09 season

* Home: Folino Theatre Center, Costa Mesa

* Dates: Sept. 5-June 14

* Website: www.scr.org

* Regular tickets: $20-$64 (up to $70 for musicals)

* Bargains: A limited number of tickets for the first Saturday matinee of each show are available for a $10 minimum. Students, educators or anyone 25 or younger can get a $10 discount off the regular price -- but not for Sunday matinees or holiday productions, such as “A Christmas Carol.” Seniors can get a $5 discount, except for holiday productions.

* Rush: Available for some performances, but prices vary. The box office has information at (714) 708-5555.

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Surfing for discount culture

You can use the Internet to get economy tickets to performing arts events.

Goldstar Events

This company offers tickets to dozens of large- and small-scale events in the area, mostly at half-price but occasionally even free when a production desperately wants to fill an auditorium. Goldstar charges a service fee that varies by event but averages about $4.50. At www.goldstar.com.

L.A. Stage Alliance

This nonprofit group of local theaters offers half-price tickets, mostly to productions in small theaters. For example, it recently listed “The Lost Plays of Tennessee Williams” at $12.50, with a service charge of $4. At www.lastagealliance.com.

-- David Colker