Ringtone Silences New York Philharmonic

Usually, when something disturbs an orchestra performance, the New York Philharmonic's music director plays on. But an incessant iPhone ringtone during a concert this week forced Alan Gilbert to stop the show, the Wall Street Journal reports. The universally familiar "Marimba" tone kept playing during Mahler's 9th Symphony, even after Gilbert turned his head reproachfully. Eventually he stopped the music, a first for the philharmonic.

The offender, reportedly a philharmonic subscriber, has not been identified, and Gilbert says it's "bizarre" he didn't turn the phone off when it first became obvious. "Maybe he was just so mortified that he just shut down and was paralyzed." Amusingly, the recorded voice telling people to turn off their devices at the beginning of the concert was none other than Alec Baldwin, no stranger to cell-phone drama, notes ABC News. (More New York Philharmonic stories.)