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Subscribe to RSSDuring Mahler's Ninth Symphony a ringing cell phone caused the conductor to stop the concert on Wednesday in New York City. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Concertgoers at the New York Philharmonic Tuesday night did not have to be musicologists to work out that the marimba was not part of the famous work.
Conductor Alan Gilbert halted the performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony when the offending iPhone ringtone sounded -- and persisted.
Just minutes from the end of the hour and a half-long piece, Gilbert turned to the phone's owner, seated close to the front of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, according to an eyewitness account published by "Superconductor" blogger Paul Pelkonen.
“The symphony ends incredibly quietly so there was literally no way that we could go on, Gilbert told NBC News. "So I stopped the music and I asked the general vicinity where the sound was coming from ‘please turn off your cellphone.’ And I had to ask several times..."
In the ensuing pause, some in the audience reportedly called for blood, shouting: "Kick him out!" and "$1,000 fine!" the witness recounted.
Gilbert quietly employed shame until the offender -- described as an elderly man by another blogger -- confirmed that the phone was off.
Before continuing with the concert, Gilbert apologized and explained that normally it’s best to ignore such disturbances, but he said this was "so egregious that I could not allow it."
This was the first time Gilbert has stopped the orchestra for a violation of the "cell-phones off" rule, a media contact at the symphony said, but at least the second time that it has happened in the symphony’s history.
For classical music buffs who witnessed it, there was some satisfaction to be gained from the incident, which occurred in what is otherwise a quiet and mesmerizing part of the Mahler work.
"In a way, it’s great that that schlimazel’s iPhone happened to go off at such a sweet spot in Mahler’s Ninth on Tuesday. All of us… got to exercise some righteous indignation, schadenfreude, and the adrenaline rush of watching a fight," wrote a classical music blogger on "thousandfold echo."
The downside, said the writer, was that after "Mahlergate" there was just no turning back the clock.
"After this kerfuffle, it’s impossible to talk about the actual music, just as it was impossible for listeners to return to the symphony’s transcendent stillness after the cellphone," with news coverage focused on the man with the marimba, and "nary a pixel spent on what came before or after."
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Leave a Comment:
What a shame. Musicians work so hard to prepare for performances that only happen one time. Too bad for all of the concert goers who paid their hard earned dollars. Each performance (even of the same piece) varies and can never be replicated. Why are some so uneducated when it comes to common courtesy and good manners?
Is this really news? What has the media come to?
Just because it isn't about you...
Good for the conductor - when you're told "cell phones off" they mean it - for a reason - the article stated that the ring tone persisted - persisted - (has he no shame?) I gues the man is an idiot - I hope the offender gets a reprimand from the Symphony, and if he's a season subscriber, I hope they cancel him (give him a refund if necessary of course)
I suspect the ring tone persisted because the guy was mortified and didn't want the audience to turn into a mob and attack him. I think the conductor acted like a jerk! Cell phones are a fact of everyday life. People make mistakes. forgetting to turn your cell phone off during a symphony performance is a regretable mistake. What the conductor did was deliberate and mean and I don't think we should applaud it. Grace is a thing of the past.
If you're trying to conduct something with a beat and harmony, and you have a separate beat going off near you, I'm sure that's very distracting. I'm sure the man didn't do it on purpose, but if he could hear it, he should have shut it off.
I personally think the conductor acted like a pompous jerk. I'd bet almost any amount of money Mr. self-important conductor has forgotten to turn off his cell phone before at church or a movie, etc. I'm sure the guy with the phone felt terrible, but the conductor only made an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation more uncomfortable for the entire audience. Boo to him!
ehh , its become common place for that kind of garbage to happen all the time, somewhere someone had to stand up and it just happened to be him...maybe it will scare others to make sure they turn them off, especially in this kind of setting. I'm the biggest tech nerd you'll meet but when i go into a concert like that that sucker gets turned off
No matter how much you "scare" people (humiliate might be a better choice of words in this instance), they will still make mistakes. It's not like he was intentionally making a call in the midst of a symphony performance. Even you, sir, are capable of forgetting to turn off your cell phone when you should, I'm sure. I still say the conductor gets the rudest man of the night award.
well that's the problem its so common place anymore you have no idea and because of that no one ever says anything...but the entire last 3 min of the concert would have been totally pointless if the alarm kept going off and no one told him to turn it off, its a very somber ending that fades away and the ring tone would have completely destroyed it. Needless to say i would have been very angry if i had been there and it didn't get turned off at all after having paid 60bucks ahead.
The only thing that surprises me is that this doesn't happen all the time...
If he was really an elderly man, that could have a lot to do with it. My parents are both in their 70's and have iPhones that they have virtually no clue how to work. Technology like the cell phone has not been around forever. Maybe the guy was just like my dad and didn't know how to turn the phone off. Or maybe he thought he turned it off, but pushed the wrong button or something. I would be angry as well if the symphony I had just spent the last hour and a half listening to was ruined by a cell phone ring. But neither you guys nor the conductor has any idea what this man's situation is. Have a heart. The guy had to have been mortified. And I am ashamed for all of the people condemning him. I hope he's not sweating it too much. Mistakes and accidents are made by everybody. How would you like to have yours called out in front of the entire audience at the New York Philharmonic and then posted on the home page of MSN?
The epitome of a first world bourgeoisie problem. LOL
A true story. My mom was yelled at by another mom because that mothers daughter was temporarily lost during a field trip. Years later that mother came to my mom to apologize because the same thing had just happened to her, she lost someone else's child on a field trip.
Careful or your cell phone is next!
What an inconsiderate boob. You go to a concert and leave your phone on. Stupidity has real depth.
Isheep are generally clueless and/or arrogant. Most don't know how to use their phones except as a fashion accessory or are so self-serving that they think everyone will love their clever ringtone. And anyway, their business is way more important than anything you might be into.
@ doyourhomework,america!
You may want to consider changing your picture, it looks like ur s'ing a d
This past Sunday, DURING mass, the phone of the woman directly behind me went off. Not only did she NOT silence it, she answered it. We were sitting and she leaned forward to whisper into her phone. She did not tell the person, on the other end, that she was in mass. While the conversation was quite brief, I just don't get it - why do people think they have to have their phones on all the time? If this call was so important, wouldn't she have left after receiving it? Nope, she was there the rest of the mass. Shame on people who do this!
Ok, just to answer one question about having phones all the time: for some people, that is their only phone. No landline, etc. I am one of those people. However, I turn my phone off when I go to the movies, concerts, etc.
And you are right: if it was important, she would have left. I have done that at work (I let my boss know that I am going into a private room to make a call). All my phone calls have been dealing with a lawyer and with my father's property (he died and all his information on a mortgage, property, bank accounts, etc. were missing. So that is a fustercluck) which I inherited.
hahahaha, "plain bob" has the best comments on this article, hands down.
Everyone else just needs to relax!
My mom frequently ushers and also attends many NY Philharmonic performances. From what she told me, it was an older man who had recently gotten a new phone and did not know how it worked and had thought it was turned off. Unfortuately, this occurred at a time and place in our culture where we are fed up with rude people and their cell phones, and looking for a target for that frustration. Public service announcement-- learn how to change your ringer volume before you leave the store!