Classical Notes: June 21, 2011 Archive

Please turn off all cell phones and mobile devices...

Posted at 9:13 AM on June 21, 2011 by Alison Young

How many times have we heard that at a concert or play? And yet inevitably a phone goes off at a quiet moment, or someone checks their email right next to you shining that evil little blue light in your eyes.

Last Friday night at Orchestra Hall, a cell phone interrupted one of the most sublime moments in Copland's Appalachian Spring, destroying both Osmo Vanska and the orchestra's concentration and surely the audience's as well.

Now the "Queen's Composer" Sir Maxwell Davies is fighting back. He's branded people who use mobile phones during concerts vandals and "artistic terrorists" and wants them to be fined.