Teatro alla Scala, Milano
When at La Scala in Milan, during a concert with Verdi choruses and overtures conducted by Riccardo Chailly, a cell phone rang insistently the maestro interrupted the performance, turned to the audience and said to the cell phone’s owner, « Go ahead and answer the call, we’ll resume later. »
Then he addressed the audience saying, « You see friends, there are many of us on this great Verdi journey with the La Scala orchestra and chorus, but we are not alone because we are making a recording for Decca in London so there will be many more of us. It’s a big deal. Patria Oppressa with the stubbornness of the cell phone is not possible. » Then, after a long applause from the audience, he resumed the performance all over again.
