LINCOLN CENTER
Geffen Hall
New York Philharmonic
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
How Geffen Hall coped with NY earthquake
norman lebrecht
April 06, 2024
An eyewitness report from Friday morning’s concert for slippedisc.com:
At Geffen Hall there was a program of Webern 5 Pieces for Orchestra; Strauss Tod und Verklärung; Ravel Piano Concerto in G (with Alice Sara Ott, who had made her NYPO debut the night before); Scriabin Le Poème de l’extase. The conductor was Karina Canellakis, also making her Philharmonic debut.
The earthquake was at about 10:30am. Then followed the phone alerts indicating there may be aftershocks.
At right around 11am, when the concert was to begin, the alarms started to go off in the hall. And they went off. And they went off. Nobody seemed to know that you must TURN OFF the phone to stop the alerts.
Canellakis came out to much applause and began the Webern. When all was quiet in the hall, more alarms.
She finally began the piece. It was clear that the phone alarms were going off throughout, but loud sections of the music drowned out the distraction. Then came the Ravel. Much of the audience was getting fed up with the idiots who didn’t know enough to turn off their phone. The worst part of all that as soon as Ott began the 2nd movement, exquisite in its quiet beauty, another went off! There was a very audible groan from many in the audience, along was a few shouting to turn off your
After the intermission, an announcement came on and told the audience to physically turn off their phones as the emergency alert overrides all other settings. Significant applause at the announcement. Yet once again, during the Scriabin, which is a huge, loud piece, there were sporadic alarms going off which were noticeable during quiet passages.
A concert I’ll not soon forget, but definitely not in a good way.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
