The National Concert Hall is welcoming back a live audience today for the first time since March.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra will perform 'A Christmas Celebration' at 1pm today.
There will be 100 people in attendance at the Dublin venue which has the capacity to fill 1,200.
Public health guidelines will be fully adhered to, with temperature checks and a queuing system in place and only six people permitted to sit in each row.
The CEO of the National Concert Hall said the 45-minute show will be "the first of a test series of things" the venue plans to hold in order to resume a regular programme of events.
Simon Taylor told Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh that the last nine months have been "a frustrating period" but he was looking forward to having a live audience in attendance.
He said: "It's a very small audience, I never thought I would be excited about seeing 100 people in our auditorium.
"But it's the first time for nine months we've had a live audience at all.
"It's very important not just for us but as a signal to the sector going forward that even if things continue with the restrictions, which they're likely to for another six months, that we can get back to some live audiences.
"Cinemas have reopened so we're trying to show that live events can happen also.
Mr Taylor said he was "confident we can show that this is a safe environment to be in", with the event "just about the music and the performance and not the things you would normally think of as the socialising around it", such as a bar.
Remember, today we have 2 showings of A Christmas Celebration with @ICOrchestra available to view live, and for free. Showtimes are 1pm & 8pm.
Both streams are available on our YouTube and Facebook channels.
YouTube:https://t.co/Mnii9acUKC
Facebook:https://t.co/S9PD8R8TRb pic.twitter.com/rlomJiPAdx— National Concert Hall (@NCH_Music) December 19, 2020
Funding
He said that two-thirds of the National Concert Hall's income is through commercial activity while the rest comes from Government funding.
Switching to online makes it difficult to generate an income from audiences but the venue's revenue has been further supplemented by extra grants and funding, he added.
They have installed technology in the hall which will facilitate live streaming of events in the future, which Mr Taylor describes as a "silver lining in what has been a very dark cloud this year".
People can watch today's concert live online for free on the National Concert Hall's Facebook and YouTube pages.
