Friday night, in Davies Hall, Vladimir Ashkenazy did something not even
the fearsome MTT has done in response to cell phones going off during
a San Francisco Symphony performance.  MTT turns and glares, but keeps
going.  Ashkenazy stopped the music.  It was certainly a first for me,
but cannot say with certainty that this was a Symphony premiere.

The orchestra was in the middle of the Rachmaninov "Rhapsody on a Theme
of Paganini" and at a momentary pause in the music when the cell phone
rang - in the silence - once, and then again.  Ashkenazy motioned the
orchestra to stop, said - quietly, but with authority - "Please turn off
the phone," waited for a few seconds, and picked up where he left off.
There were no more rings.

Of course, there will be, many more, in the future - it's unavoidable
when a couple of thousand people get together, each toting a cell phone.
The pre-performance announcement is such an old hat by now that not
everybody pays attention.  What to do?  I'm not sure which theater did
it so "theatrically" and effectively (A.C.T.?): ringing came through the
loudspeakers in a crescendo, conversations ceased, and everybody started
looking for the source of the sound, the announcement was made about
turning off the phones.  There was no "accident" that evening.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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