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Last night I heard Andras Schiff play an all-Mozart program in Los Angeles at Walt Disney Hall.
There was a lot of coughing and a couple cell phones went off.
After all this IS Los Angeles, airhead capital of the world.
Schiff kept playing without missing a beat.

But then . . . CRASH BANG KLUNK KLUNK KLUNK KLUNK KLUNK KLUNK KLUNK KLUNK THUD.

Someone’s wooden cane fell down about 30 wooden stairs.
It stopped about 5 feet from me when a man caught it.
It was SO LOUD because the hall is so reflective to sound.
It sounded like a wall caved in, or something.

See pic below, it happened in the the large balcony second from the top on the far left – lots of stairs.



Schiff tried to continue another few seconds.
But he stopped right in the middle of a piece.
He got up.
Frowned.
Shook his head from side to side and walked off the stage.

The crown began to murmur.
The murmur grew for about 5 minutes, as murmurs do.
A nicely-dressed woman walked onto the stage with a microphone and said something like this.

I am so and so, president of the LA Philharmonic.
I am here on behalf of Mr. Schiff.
He really wants to continue to bring you this wonderful program.
But we need you all to really concentrate.
You see one of the things that makes Disney Hall so special is the interior is made of very reflective materials that are carefully shaped to focus and distribute the sound on the stage to all of you.
Unfortunately it also works in the reverse.
Here on stage I can hear the slightest sound that each of you make, etc. etc.
She walks offstage to applause.
[She was in a tough situation and handled it just right, I think.]

A few minutes later Schiff returns and continues to play a beautiful program of Mozart.

But two more times cell phones go off - during quiet moments.
And of course they were not just regular rings.
The had to be those ear-catching musical rings.

The crowd gasps.
Schiff plays on.

BTW during the intermission about 20% off the people left.
I overheard lots of complaints,“Who does he think he is?” “What a diva!” “I’ll never pay to hear him again.”

The second half of the concert was wonderful because the audience was silent.

BTW, Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax were *incredible* Friday.

These artists just blow my mind.
I can’t imagine how much work it must take to achieve this level of artistry.
Now that I’ve been taking lessons for 9 years I really appreciate.

A question for those of you who are pros or frequent concert goers.
How often does this happen?

Wow, that's amazing. I've been to literally hundreds of concerts within the last 3-4 years, and something like this never happened. When I am at home - it'd go perhaps 3-4 times a week when there was a lot of good stuff happening in Manhattan, and here at school there are concerts more or less everyday.

The audiences in New York are much better behaved, especially Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, etc.

Even at student concerts, there is a good level of respect.

The boorishness of some concert audience members continues to amaze me, as you may have recently noticed in my response on the thread about Pogorelich and his recent New York recital.

Here in Victoria, we are always reminded at the beginning of a concert or a recital, not only by announcements in the programmes (which many people never read) but also by a spoken announcement to turn off cell phones, pagers, wrist watch alarms, and - get this! - hearing aids with audio alarms!

Tafel Musik, Canada's leading Baroque Orchestra gave a wonderful concert in Victoria this past Saturday evening, and we were reminded by the local organizer of the event that we were to turn off any instrument in our pockets, purses or on our persons that was not in use in the 18th century. "Tafel Musik uses only original instruments in all its performances!" was the light-hearted approach to what appears to be a necessary admonition these days.

Regards,

Bruce, Disney Hall does make an announcement over the PA to turn off all cell phones and pagers.
I think they even do it after the lights go down, when they have your full attention.

After every intermission they announce, "During the intermission you may have used your cellphone and check your pages. Please turn them back off."

Some people are just idiots.

Last year, I saw Brendel stop playing for a few seconds after someone had a terrible fit of cough in the audience. (I wonder why people always have to gasp during pianissimo parts?!) He turned towards the audience and gave what must have been a horrifying, basilisk-like stare, for everyone in that direction froze. He then went on.
The audience was quite loud that evening, there had been several moments before when it felt he considered interrupting.
Here in Germany, some music halls, opera houses etc. have started to hand out cough drops for free before the performance starts. Seems to help.

cell phone ring is just simply rude, and that guy who had it ring is 'diva' and who did he think he is to dare let the cell phone ring? i do believe audience have the responsibility to behave well in concert, and i hated it whenever people coughing, speaking or making noise in concert too.

btw, the hall looks great!

I'd heard that about handing out cough drops too. Did you know that your nickname, Euphonatrix, sounds like the name of a sweet very popular within singers - Euphon.

Here in Belgium it's normal to make an announcement about cell phones before a concert, and generally people are pretty good. But it's getting into cough and cold season now so the coughing can get quite intrusive.

Wow, what a story. My heart goes out to the poor guy with the cane... obviously it was a terrible accident and he must have felt awful. But the cell phones--there's no excuse at all for that. Kenny is right; some people are just idiots.

I know the technology exists to stop cell phone transmissions in buildings. Am I remembering correctly that it's illegal in the U.S.? But one would think that there are certain settings (concert halls, operating rooms, etc.) where such equipment would be most appropriate.

Cough drops should be unwrapped prior to the concert or they're just as disruptive.

NY audiences are great. Philadelphia audiences can be horrible.

If you need to have a cell phone on because you're "on call" then you shouldn't be at a concert.

I have never heard a cell phone go off during a performance. I wonder if things are different if a human being comes out on stage to make a personal announcement BEFORE the lights go down. The alternative interpretation is that LA audiences are simply dumber or more self-indulgent than others. I hope this isn't the case. Heck, my sister-in-law is an Angeleno. In any case, the poor gentleman who lost the cane represents an aberration. That's just a horrible accident.

I know many people find classical music performance stuffy and classical musicians to be self-important prima donnas. There is of course a certain respect that is expected at most performances. With the exception of pops concerts or the proms, audience participation is not integral to the performance. And behavior that is distracting is downright rude. If that seems pompous or effete to some, so be it. The fact that Schiff performed through the initial problems suggests he has patience. To take it out on Schiff, as though he was to blame, seems quite self-important to me. I would have been hard pressed not to comment to those overheard remarks.

BTW Disney Hall has large free cough drop dispensers at the doors.

The wrappers are a kind of paper that somehow makes almost no noise.

I don't know what brand.

If you ask me if possible the ushers should make a note of whoever has a cell phone that rings during the performance and "usher" them out during intermission. I'm with you about the cane Monica...that poor guy will probably never live it down.

I was once at a Keith Jarret concert in Boston about 25 years ago when, right at the beginning of his performance he stopped playing and had a fit about someone taking a picture claiming he could hear every click. Frankly I thought he went a bit over the top

A thousand apologies to dial-uppers but I must post gratuitous pics of Disney Hall.
LA has so little culture to brag about.









Mormon Tab Choir:



Side view – seats are 360 degrees around stage:





Pipe organ:

Wow! Beautiful venue.

Sorry about all the disturbances - but what was the program?

Artists:
András Schiff, piano

Program:
Mozart: Sonata in A, K. 331
Mozart: Fantasy in D minor, K. 397
Mozart: Adagio in B minor, K. 540
Mozart: Rondo in D, K. 485
Mozart: Sonata in A minor, K. 310
Mozart: Sonata in C, K. 545
Mozart: Rondo in A minor, K. 511
Mozart: Variations in G, K. 455

this looks fantastic, the best music hall i have ever seen!

Nice hall

Good program

Good pianist! (lately i have begun to respect andras schiff and perahia .. underrated?)

Interesting venue, the Disney Hall.

Last Friday I saw "Tristan und Isolde" at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. SF audiences are usually very good about turning off cell phones. Still, just before the love duet started in Act II, when the orchestra is just a sotto voce pulse -- a cell phone went off. It rang 4 times before the owner interrupted it. Arrgh!

By the way, Christine Brewer IS the next great Wagnerian soprano!

Aren't these nifty. I'm working on them right now!

Wow, what a beautiful concert hall! I bet it just sounds gorgeous!

I must say, I never been to a concert (in multiple states) where cell phones went off like that. It must have been a real off night.

I've been to several hundred Carnegie Hall concerts over the years and never remember a cell phone going off(although it many have happened a few times). Same thing for numerous concerts at Mannes.

I remember a while back i was at an Alexander Kobrin concert and an elderly couple was sitting a few rows in front of me. The wife must have forced her husband to come because not too far into the program he started snoring fairly loud. After a few minutes of this the person sitting behind him kicked the back of his chair hard enough that he woke up. After intermission he started to do it again and the same person kicked his chair again.

Not underrated...they're both very well respected.

They are, however, not as well-known as some pianists, probably because neither of them specializes in virtuoso literature.

I was at a concert a few years ago and a cell phone went off about four rows in front of me. The guy actually answered it and started carrying on a conversation, until a guy about two rows behind him stood up, leaned over and swatted him a few times on the side of head with a folded up program. The guy on the phone sort of huddled down and put his free arm over his head to protect himself and continued talking. Other people were folding up their programs ready to strike--I was hoping for a chance to kick him in the kidneys if someone would just pull him down to the ground--when the guy ended his conversation and turned around and glared at everybody.

There were loud words spoken in the lobby afterwards.

Tomasino

Sorry, but I'm of the opinion that, if you can't take something like that in stride, then you shouldn't be able to call yourself a "professional."

Reminds me of people who can't hit a golf ball because somewhere on the golf course, they thought they heard a blade of grass grow.

Get over it. :rolleyes:

I love Tomasino's would-be mob of music lovers. Cell phone users should be beaten with classical music programs, absolutely.

David:
Heck, my sister-in-law is an Angeleno

I would hope that she is an Angeleña .

And Kenny, you should have a word with the person who constructed that organ; they seem to have been quite inebriated at the time, and couldn't even get one pipe straight!

-Michael B.

:p

Oh, and yes I did mess up on the gender, didn't I.

Dude.

She is an Angeleno. That is LA, and they are all Angelenos.

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That is one cool building. It kind of reminds me of the Mat Hatter, which is perhaps intentional since it's Disney Hall.

I love 360 seating. I'd be behind the stage as much as possible...it's always a different experience.

As for whether the pianist should "take it in stride," I'm of mixed mind. Minor noise is just an annoyance.

But... cell phones, talking, and other forms of voluntary noise is just plain rude. A musician creates a very temporary auditory experience against a background of silence. His craft and art is to create sound. To make a bunch of noise in a concert is somewhat akin to walking up to a painting and doodling in the corner of the canvas. Silence for a musician is the equivalent of a painter's blank canvas.

To prevent such noise, our engineers came up with a great idea:

They agreed with the phone operators to block the network in the hall, and only few places excist where you can use your phone in the hall.
When you enter the hall, you loose network. But if its an emergency you can go to several meters down or up, and call.

yes but whatever happened to good old common courtesy/sense? these super self absorbed individuals with cellphones at classical music concerts are idiots and should be thrown out after 2 times... there are limits to ones patience no matter how professional. the cane is one thing but cell phones another. always love the fool walking around the grocery store chatting about their personal life real loud on cell phone. so impressive..


"during the intermission about 20% off the people left. I overheard lots of complaints,“Who does he think he is?” “What a diva!” “I’ll never pay to hear him again.”

these are the same people that get mad at you, give you the bird etc, for going through a green light as they run the hard red, talking on their beloved cell phone of course.

thats cool... really great idea.

I was also at the aforementioned concert as well. Schiff played wonderfully, as usual. It was in the middle of the B minor Adagio that the "cane" incident occurred, which was a shock aurally. The acoustics at Disney are so alive, that everything is magnified. The mood that Schiff was creating was totally disintegrated, followed by the woman with the clicking high heels and more loud coughing. The Adagio, as you all know, is very intimate, pianissimo music, tragic, and unbearabably beautiful. Needless to say, I don't blame Andras one bit for getting up and walking off stage. He did come back and played to the end. And after intermission, the crowd was the quietest I've ever heard at that venue for a solo recital. A pro to the end, Schiff ended with a Scarlatti encore.

Organists are generally a conservative bunch and as a member of an organ list or two the design of this organ had more than a few list members upset. It was considered undignified regardless of te fact that Disney paid for the thing. It was compared to a bag of french fries. But all that seems to be forgotten now that the instrument has been heard. Apparently the folks at Rosales and Glatter Glotz did a very nice job. It may have taken two companies to design and build the thing, but those who have heard it generally love it.

I'm laughing because I saw Jarrett exactly 25 years ago this month, and even though he hadn't started playing yet, he scolded some late arrivals because they had missed "musical moments," by not being in their seats at the scheduled time. I bet he was just cranky because of that Boston crowd!

(BTW - I think he's mellowed a bit in middle-age).

I think it's illegal to jam cell phones in the United States.

OK, how about a special sound-proof room for cell phone owners to sit in (sort of like a smoking section)! The concert can be piped in over a sound system.

Hope they don't mind sharing that room with infants & toddlers.

Many emergency rooms in hospitals (in USA) have some kind of cell phone jamming system.

Now that's a neat idea!



BTW, There used to be some concerns that cell phones might interfere with the signals from certain pacemakers and other electronic medical devices, but that is no longer a concern, I believe. Cell phones are now allowed in hospitals.

I agree that people should be more considerate and mindful. My comment was aimed at the performer, not the audience.

WOW.

The Hall is so beautiful! I would LOVE to play there.

Funny, not one response was about the cane tumbling down the stairs... which was the "camel"... it's all about coughing and cell phones, which will NEVER GO AWAY.. ever. Now, the big issue is this... the elderly are great supporters of classical music.. they financially underwrite symphonies all over the country. What will happen when they are gone?

What's interesting is that they've been saying that for 25 years, and yet there seems to be an endless supply of old people.

Hmmm...

I mentioned the cane being different than the cell phones... even the cane is a drag, but not a fluff type item like cell phones..

Where do old people come from?

From their parents, I guess?

Probably from old parents.
Apparently old age is genetic. :p

that's what they say

kenny:
Apparently old age is genetic :p

And mental problems are hereditary... you get them from your children!

-Michael B.

well done!

It may be too late now for concert halls that have been constructed but in a future a sound-proof glass room for the courtesy challenged with the performance piped in electronically (sound and even video).

Coughing can hardly be helped and turning off cell phones to some people are totally unacceptable like emergency personnels but they can be encouraged to sit or stand very close to an exit door.

I do that when I can't help but bring a child to church.

Or they can put the phone on "vibrate."

I read a story a while ago about a cell phone going off during a chamber music performance-- it was the cellist's!

talk about embarassing...

Sophia

One of the orchestras I perform with has a rule about that - if the performer's cell phone rings during a performance it is grounds for termination.

If they're lucky that call will be coming from their next employer, the lottery, or a rich relative.

Come on, Derulux, aren't you being a little tough on the performers?

These stories are unbelievable! (I do believe them, and I have three kids and though I love music I could count on my fingers the number of concerts I've been to since cellphones were invented...)

Anne

A little off topic here, but did any of you see Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" where the prince's girlfriend's phone rings during a ballet in Covent Garden? I fell off my seat laughing.

It's funny... I definitely expected to see this kind of ignorant post here on this board, but not from you Derulux.

I'm sorry but your argument makes absolutely no sense. Maybe you have never given a recital before so this may come as a surprise to you... but comparing noise made at a recital (Disney Hall of ALL places... sound REALLY does echo there like no other) to sounds made at a sporting event is BEYOND ridiculous. Sound may have a slight effect on the athlete's concentration but it does not stand in the way of the athlete's ability to do what is needed to hit the ball. But you see, a pianist is on the stage creating sound so therefore when he or she hears an ADDITIONAL sound, it AFFECTS the sound he creates. Because now there is a ball to hit and another ball flying at your face. Keep in mind that when you're on stage your nerves are rather sensitive and you pay extreme attention to the quality of sounds you make... any additional sound/noise CAN have negative effect on the pianist's abilities on stage. A closer comparison would be if Tiger Woods is about to hit the ball and some idiot runs onto the field and stands in his way... so the balls bounces off of the idiot's back when Tiger swings... now THAT would be much more of a similar comparison to the noise made at the Disney Hall. Clearly Mr. Schiff gave them multiple chances, seeing how he played through number of cell phone rings and severely noisy audience (I know this because I know the LA audience VERY well). So if you ask me, he was being MORE than just "professional". He had to literally FIGHT against the audience to keep doing what he was doing... and that's the LAST thing you should be worrying about if you're making music... all the concentration should be on the music and music ONLY. If I ever see anyone literally TALKING out loud on their cellphone during a recital I will gladly bitch them out and slap them across their head.

Toscanini would have stopped the concert, in order to walk over to the idiot to beat the living day lights out him. Good thing he's no longer around... a lot of people would have been in pain...

This deserves a valid, well-thought-out response. Unfortunately I am on my lunch break...so I will have to come back later. But I will come back. (Yours, at least, is a better argument, whether I agree with it or not.)

*Space Reserved*