Sat front row at the symphony...

At Symphony Center in Chicago there is a semicircular "terrace" above and behind the orchestra, where the chorus sits when it is required.  Listening from that vantage point is a unique experience.  I describe it as like having an aural X-ray of the score.  Every detail of orchestration is distinct, powerful, and vivid.  Of course, it's not ideal when there's a soloist, whose back will be facing you.  But for an orchestral piece it's a worthwhile experience, much like a very well-mixed recording.

The orchestra is in a huge shell-shaped proscenium.  Some years ago, an array of glass reflectors were suspended at the very top of this shell to improve  the balance of sound for the audience and to help the musicians hear each other.  I can attest to its success.  I can't fully account for the acoustic science of it, but it does work.  Flutes, horns, triangle, whatever...you can hear it in the terrace.  And out in the front of the house on the main floor, where I normally sit, I can hear the woodwinds better than I could in the olden days (for me, that would be the 1970s and '80s.)