Janos wrote:

>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.

I can't quite top that, but did I ever mention the time I yelled in the
Kennedy Center Concert Hall?  Okay, not during the program per se.  But
there was Leonard Slatkin, delivering one of his excellent pre-concert
talks.  A cell phone rings.  Slatkin very patiently noted it and said
nothing else.  Then the same phone rang again.  This time he still spoke
softly but asked if the owner of the phone could please turn it off.  A
few seconds later it rang for the third time.  "Turn that phone off!,"
I roared.

Here we have a guy trying to make the concertgoing experience as enjoyable
and educational as possible -- I'm sure he's not contractually required
to do these intros -- and some idiot not only doesn't turn off his cell
phone, but apparently is too stupid to know how to do it.  I guess I
should be grateful it wasn't during the performance.

Mitch Friedfeld