Listener collapses at Philadelphia Orchestra’s Carnegie Hall marathon

It was a historic event — the Philadelphia Orchestra performing all of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos in a single shot at Carnegie Hall with superstar pianist Yuja Wang. The musicians had just started the last movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 on Saturday when a woman in the audience gasped for help. Her seatmate was in distress.

The music was stopped midmovement. Medical staff arrived and began administering emergency care to the patron while musicians and audience looked on. The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery, officials said.

After about 20 minutes, orchestra music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin came back out on stage and addressed the audience. “He said something to the effect of, ‘Music is life, but life comes first.’ It was perfect for the moment,” said Matías Tarnopolsky, Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc. president and CEO. “It had the effect of centering everybody.”

The conductor then restarted the concert, continuing at the top of the third movement of the second concerto.

Later in the concert, Nézet-Séguin once again spoke, telling the audience that the stricken patron was doing well, and “there was a collective sigh of relief,” Tarnopolsky said.

The orchestra’s four-hour marathon of the Rachmaninoff concertos plus the Variations on a Theme of Paganini had been sold out since August. A line for $10 rush or returned tickets began forming outside of Carnegie Hall at 3 a.m. Saturday, officials said. The Philadelphia version of the marathon began last week, with two more concerts at Verizon Hall to come, Feb. 4 and 5 (which are also sold out).

At the conclusion of the Carnegie concert, as musicians were filing off stage, each was handed a Rachmaninoff marathon medal — emblazoned with a relief of a grand piano. Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos are often performed, especially the second and third concertos, but performing them all together is viewed as a rare feat of skill and endurance.

Said Tarnopolsky: “The musicianship on the stage, by everyone on stage, was of a level that just blew your mind.”