Opening Night Sport?

This article submitted by Nancy Howe Webster on 4/6/01.

Topic: Give your tale a brief descriptive title

The Tale:

It was the autumn of 1968, and Opening Night of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. It was also my very first RPO concert as Principal Flute. Back then, an opening night was a very formal, very big deal...ladies in their long gowns and finest jewelry, etc.. It's also important to know that the first year of any new principal's job is considered "probationary," and that they "throw the book" at one, so this concert was loaded with flute goodies.

We began the concert with a Haydn symphony. The slow movement is one long flute solo. After about 32 measures, I vaguely recall feeling something lightly patting the top of my head, but ignored the sensation. Gradually, †he strings stopped playing. What??? I wondered. Finally, everything stopped, and it was then that I noticed dozens and dozens of ping pong balls rolling all over the stage! Someone had thought that this would be pretty funny, but the conductor (Laszlo Somogyi) turned so purple that I truly thought that he was about to have a stroke. He stormed offstage. After about twenty minutes, he returned, and we began the whole program again.

The first piece after intermission was Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun," a flutist's worst nightmare, but I was so angry that I forgot to be nervous!

After all of these years, this story is still told; someone asked me about it just last week.

Nancy Howe Webster

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