Prior to the concert the New York City area was hit by an earthquake.  Carolyn and I were in the lobby enjoying a chocolate croissant and a coffee.  We never felt it.

Others, though, were (no pun intended) quite shaken.  Those working the bar were particularly (no pun intended) moved as they could see the liquor bottles shaking with fluid levels moving back and forth.

The emergency alert system kicked in right as the performance was beginning.  Beepers were going off throughout the auditorium.  Members in the audience began yelling for people to turn off their phones.  The orchestra and conductor appeared dismayed.  Hostilities were growing throughout the facility.

As the Strauss Death and Transfiguration was finishing, the emergency alert system gave it another shout out regarding after shocks.  Again, tension overtook the room.

The result is that within a period of one week we are experiencing an earthquake and an eclipse!

LINCOLN CENTER

David Geffen Hall

New York Philharmonic

One of the lifetime joys of my life occurred today.  Carolyn and I got to host the two principal horn players for today's concert for lunch following the performance.  It was the treat of a lifetime for me.

https://slippedisc.com/2024/04/how-geffen-hall-coped-with-ny-earthquake/

How Geffen Hall coped with NY earthquake

Orchestras

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 phone! Both Ott and Canellakis took it all in stride and tried to make a go of it. When Ott came out for an encore of Satie’s Gnossienne 1, she announced the encore by saying something like ‘this is a concert we’ll all remember’, and proceeded to play. A few notes in, another alarm. More groans, but she completed the piece beautifully.

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.