Chicago Symphony Fist Fight: Conductor throws "dagger eyes"

Chicago never fails to remind me why I love it so; seems a fist fight broke out at the Symphony.

Just as the second movement was drawing to a gentle close — with Music Director Riccardo Muti at the podium — a man in his 30s, according to police, started punching a 67-year-old man inside one of the boxes.

Understanding that in civilized places people don't behave this way, the Symphony director, Riccardo Muti, gave the offenders a nasty look.

The concert never stopped, but Muti shot a glance over his left shoulder toward the box where the punches were thrown. One concert-goer described the look as “dagger eyes."

Chicago Sun Times: Orchestra brawl: Fistfight in elite seats stuns symphony patrons

Thanks Bert

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http://twitter.com/electromikey Michael Birch

I was hoping he had daggers painted to look like eyes, and that he’d thrown them at the offending party.
Hakuin

Brahms with BRAWNDO!!! YEAHHH!
Lea Hernandez

“Gives a new meaning to ‘Once more, with feeling,’” said my daughter.
ocatagon

I remember the dagger eyes a conductor gave once when a baby started crying in the audience.
http://thriftfu.wordpress.com License Farm

As an employee of a world-renowned cultural institution, I long ago stopped being shocked by boorish behavior in “civilized places,” and settled into a constant disappointment to insulate from deeper existential angst. :/
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I watched two women tear each other’s hair out, literally tear each other’s hair out, at the top-tier opening reception for the Vatican exhibit at the DeYoung Museum in SF. This is the reception where you’d see the Mayor and the Gettys and the Papal Nuncio. There were chunks of hair and strips of satin drifting by the Augustus of Prima Porta.
  - retepslluerb
    
    Sounds like normal business for the Vatican.
sean

He was probably humming along. I bet the old guy was humming along to the music.
semiotix

They pull dagger-eyes, you pull gun-eyes. He sends one of yours to the lobby, you send one of his all the way out of the concert hall. That’s the Chicago Symphony way!
http://twitter.com/dailyrev Brian Donohue

Haven’t heard about any fights here at the NY Philharmonic. But recently a cell phone going off (twice) during the closing movement of the Mahler 9th caused the conductor to stop the performance and stare some daggers himself. Believe me, if you know the closing movement of the Mahler 9th, it’s a funny story.
Flashman

Whatever next? Stage diving?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1208962828 Eric Legg

KNIIIIFE EEEEYYYEE ATTAAAAACCKK!!!!
Strabo

I was there at the concert when this happened. Didn’t know it was a fight though. I heard what I thought was the doors to the boxes slam a couple of times. If those were punches, they were pretty damn good punches for me to mistake them for the box door. From my vantage point in the Lower Balcony I saw two girls and their (presumably) mother get up and leave. Muti and the orchestra didn’t miss a beat though. It was still really distracting and couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan

If we’re going to be all civilised and cultured about this, isn’t the correct technical term obelisk eyes? At least in print?
bo1ngbolnguser001

Distant Worlds had a sold out concert at Boston’s Symphony Hall last night with the Video Game Orchestra. How come people listening to Brahms are fighting while gamers are enjoying a nice relaxing evening at the symphony without incident?
- Eccentric Genius
  
  Oh, the gamers were trying to fight alright, but were stymied when no amount of frenzied button mashing would even start the match, let alone trigger their signature finishing move.
dr

This is why tickets in the terrace seats at the CSO are so much cheaper than the tickets in the balcony; from the terrace you can see into the boxes, and have to put up with the box-seat riff-raff who act like children at events like this.
Pedantic Douchebag

“He pulls an oboe, you pull a bassoon. He sends one of yours to the balcony, you send one of his to the lobby. That’s the Chicago way!”
chgoliz

I don’t know the specifics of this situation but I can explain the general problem.

The chairs in the boxes are not bolted to the floor. There are also more of them per box than the boxes were originally built for. Most boxes are shared by more than one group (since they now seat 6-8 people). Whichever group gets there first will grab the front seats, and probably give themselves ample leg room. Things can get interesting for the last 2 people to arrive in the box: no leg room, and no decent line of sight.

Lyric Opera has the same problem.