A night at a concert usually means silencing mobile phones before the music starts - but in a bid to draw in a younger audience, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is loaning select patrons iPads loaded with content specific to each performance.

Users will be able to view sheet music for the pieces being played, video interviews with musicians, podcasts about the composers and analysis on the works themselves. They will also get a close-up view of the conductor from the musicians' point of view from video monitors.

The orchestra, which was founded in 1881, is the first to offer audience members use of customised iPads, according to Kim Noltemy, the group's chief operating and communications officer.