Marimba, the iPhone Ring, Stops Symphony During Show
This past Tuesday during an performance by The New York Philharmonic the conductor had to stop the show because one unfortunate audience member forget to check his phone and turn off the ringer.
According to an eyewitness, the offending phone owner was in the front row of the Avery Fisher Hall when his phone went off during an important part of the symphony.
"Mr. Gilbert was visibly annoyed by the persistent ring-tone, so much that he quietly cut the orchestra," the concert-goer, music student Kyra Sims told reporters. She explained how the conductor turned around on the podium looking in the general towards the offender.
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Sims endured the uncomfortable moments stating the pause lasted a good "three or four minutes. It might have been two. It seemed long."
But no one feels worse about what happened than the culprit himself. He agreed to an interview with The New York Times on the condition that he is not identified.
“You can imagine how devastating it is to know you had a hand in that,” the man said. He described himself as a business executive who runs two companies. “It’s horrible, horrible.” The man also claimed that he had not slept in two days.
The man, called Patron X by the Philharmonic, said he was a lifelong classical music lover and had been to the orchestra for over 20 years. He also happened to be friendly with several of its members.
According to Patron X he was not even aware that it was his phone that was causing the disturbance. He explained that he had recently received the iPhone from his company just a day earlier to replace an old BlackBerry smartphone.
Patron X thought that the iPhone was silenced, totally oblivious that the alarm ring tone plays regardless if the phone is silenced.
He certainly seemed sincere in his apology: “I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event. I apologize to the whole audience.”
