ICMA Lifetime Achievement Winner Conducted During Earthquake

Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit was conducting Ravel’s ‘Daphnis et Chloé’ when an earthquake hit the area. This was reported by the Los Angeles Times: « Six minutes into the performance of Ravel’s complete « Daphnis and Chloé, » at 9:09 p.m., a 5.1-magnitude earthquake centered near La Habra struck Walt Disney Concert Hall, one of the largest temblors since the hall’s 2003 opening. The hall rocked and rolled for several seconds — like an airplane experiencing turbulence — and the place vibrated for more than a minute. Although the orchestra seemed a bit rattled at first and the audience gasped, the unflappable veteran Charles Dutoit kept on conducting, never breaking stride, and the performance continued pretty much unimpeded. (…) « I work a lot in Japan, so we have this all the time, » Dutoit said, while admitting that « it was hard to keep the concentration of the orchestra. »