List of classical music concerts with an unruly audience response

21st century

← Previous revision Revision as of 01:58, 27 April 2026 Line 300: Line 300: | Barcelona | Barcelona | The controversy primarily stemmed from the unconventional staging of the opera at the [[Liceu|Gran Teatre del Liceu]]. The production featured Mario Cavaradossi as an alter ego of Italian film director [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]], who was murdered in 1975, trying to draw parallels between them as artists seen inconvenient to religious and political powers. Controversial scenes included many references to sexual violence and an invented scene of homosexual prostitution between Pasolini and his alleged killer while the song "[[Love in Portofino]]" played in the background. All this was met with substantial booing from the audience.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pujol |first=Xavier |date=January 4, 2023 |title=Pasolini, Character From Tosca at the Liceu (Column) |url=https://www.opera-online.com/en/columns/xavierpujol/pasolini-character-from-tosca-at-the-liceu |access-date=January 16, 2024 |website=Opera Online |language=en |archive-date=January 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116095512/https://www.opera-online.com/en/columns/xavierpujol/pasolini-character-from-tosca-at-the-liceu |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Parera |first=Xavier |date=January 16, 2023 |title=BARCELONA / Una polémica y fallida 'Tosca' abre el año en el Liceu |url=https://scherzo.es/barcelona-una-polemica-y-fallida-tosca-abre-el-ano-en-el-liceu/ |access-date=January 16, 2024 |website=Scherzo |language=es |archive-date=January 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116095512/https://scherzo.es/barcelona-una-polemica-y-fallida-tosca-abre-el-ano-en-el-liceu/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | The controversy primarily stemmed from the unconventional staging of the opera at the [[Liceu|Gran Teatre del Liceu]]. The production featured Mario Cavaradossi as an alter ego of Italian film director [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]], who was murdered in 1975, trying to draw parallels between them as artists seen inconvenient to religious and political powers. Controversial scenes included many references to sexual violence and an invented scene of homosexual prostitution between Pasolini and his alleged killer while the song "[[Love in Portofino]]" played in the background. All this was met with substantial booing from the audience.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pujol |first=Xavier |date=January 4, 2023 |title=Pasolini, Character From Tosca at the Liceu (Column) |url=https://www.opera-online.com/en/columns/xavierpujol/pasolini-character-from-tosca-at-the-liceu |access-date=January 16, 2024 |website=Opera Online |language=en |archive-date=January 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116095512/https://www.opera-online.com/en/columns/xavierpujol/pasolini-character-from-tosca-at-the-liceu |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Parera |first=Xavier |date=January 16, 2023 |title=BARCELONA / Una polémica y fallida 'Tosca' abre el año en el Liceu |url=https://scherzo.es/barcelona-una-polemica-y-fallida-tosca-abre-el-ano-en-el-liceu/ |access-date=January 16, 2024 |website=Scherzo |language=es |archive-date=January 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116095512/https://scherzo.es/barcelona-una-polemica-y-fallida-tosca-abre-el-ano-en-el-liceu/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |- | [[Piotr Tchaikovsky]] | [[Symphony No. 5 (Tchaikovsky)|Symphony No. 5]] | April 28, 2023 | Los Angeles | During a quiet moment in the second movement, the audience was distracted by a woman's moan, which many surmised to be{{thinsp}}—{{thinsp}}in the words of composer and audience member [[Magnus Fiennes]]{{thinsp}}—{{thinsp}}a "loud and full body orgasm". The woman's motive was never identified, and some audience members suggested it could instead have been a [[sleep attack]] or other medical condition.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-04-30/la-phil-concert-orgasm-twitter-tchaikovsky|title=An 'orgasm' at the L.A. Phil? Witnesses offer conflicting accounts}}</ref> |} |}