A truly unique mobile phone disaster at a London concert last night: it rang on the platform. The 216th anniversary of Schubert’s birth was being celebrated at the Wigmore Hall by violinist Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien on piano.
A full house sat entranced, even when Ibragimova stopped for a lengthy tuning of her instrument before the final Fantasy in C Major. She had just adjusted the E string for the fifth time when the tones of a mobile rang out.
No one could tell from where until Tiberghien’s page-turner rose in horror and rushed off the stage. When he reappeared seconds later he was not so much red as pale. Ibragimova burst into laughter, as did the audience, and she resumed the recital as if nothing had happened. Talk about grace under pressure.
