The talk of the classical music world for the last couple days. This man is the Steve Bartman of the classical world right now. Hopefully it will be a lesson to everyone and they will move on.
Worst Nightmare Realized of the Day: The man responsible for the ringing cellphone that silenced a performance of the New York Philharmonic earlier this week says he hasn’t slept since.
“Patron X”, a 60-something business exec seated in the front row, interrupted Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 with his iPhone’s marimba ring, inciting the ire of conductor Alan Gilbert, who stopped the show cold.
“You can imagine how devastating it is to know you had a hand in that,” said the 20-year orchestra subscriber who was pelted with “angry shouts” from audience members while he fumbled for his phone for several very long seconds.
Speaking to The New York Times, Patron X blamed his brand new iPhone’s alarm clock — which he claims he didn’t know existed — but apologized just the same. ”I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event,” he said. “I apologize to the whole audience.”
The man also apologized to Gilbert when the two spoke on the phone yesterday afternoon. Gilbert said he felt sorry Patron X “had to go through this,” and accepted his apology.
In light of this incident, do yourself a favor next time you’re in Avery Fisher Hall and follow composer Daniel Dorff’s example: “Changed my ringtone to play #Mahler 9 just in case.”
[nyt / video: reenactment.]
