Matthew Halls’ powerful and sweeping gestures accidentally resulted in a precious violin flying to the floor in the middle of the performance.
The concert was organized in Lahti’s Sibelius Hall. Eventum Lahti Oy
Conductor Matthew Halls comments on the violin episode that happened in the Lahti city orchestra and attracted a lot of attention.
On Thursday, Halls conducted Sinfonia Lahti’s concert intensively and with wide gestures, when in the middle of the performance he hit soloist Elina Vähälä’s violin.
As a result of the impact, the violin was thrown in an arc towards the other Violins and finally fell to the floor with its back side up. The moment was exceptionally tense in the hall, when the orchestra fell silent and the audience held its breath.
Now Halls has published a picture on his Instagram account in which he and Vähälä are hugging each other in front of the orchestra. In the caption he writes:
– It has been a great pleasure to conduct Bruch’s violin concerto several times over the years. This show is one I will definitely never forget! Words are not enough to describe my admiration for this extraordinary artist who gave an amazing interpretation both before and after the “Youtube incident”.
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In addition, in his text, he thanks Vähälä for his wonderful friendship and cooperation.
Violinist Elina Vähälä is also the artistic director of the Naantali Music Festival. Ivan Bessedin
Reporter and writer Minna Lindgren described In his Facebook post about the incident that happened on Thursday in Sibeliustalo in Lahti:
– Elina Vähälä played Bruch’s violin concerto as a soloist, Matthew Halls played the flute with wide movements. The full hall slept in a state of happiness similar to nirvana, Elina played so divinely, until suddenly, in the finale, the conductor whistled so fast that it hit Elina’s millionth violin, which flew in an arc towards the second violins, described Lindgren, who gave the opening speech of the concert.
– With some reflex, Elina got her legs in between, which softened the stomach a little – the violin fell to the floor with its back side up. Chilling moment. The orchestra fell silent, the audience held their breath, the musicians didn’t really see what had happened, kapu and Elina stared at the violin lying on the ground. Elina picked it up, found it intact, attached the shoulder rest, tuned and started the finale from the beginning, playing it as heavenly as everything up to that point.
Iltalehti reached out to the Marketing and Communications Manager of the Lahti City Orchestra Kristiina Palvanen said that Elina Vähälä’s violin survived the situation intact.
The incident was captured on video, which shows how Vähälä’s violin falls to the floor and the musicians stare at it in shock. You can watch the video below.