A London concert made headlines in 2014 — not so much for the comeback performance of famed violinist Kyung-Wha Chung, but rather for her reaction to a coughing child in the audience. The musician stopped the performance and, from the stage, berated the parents.
It wasn’t the first time that someone in the classical music world has reacted strongly to a coughing audience member, and it likely won’t be the last. At a Chicago performance in 2012, a symphony conductor interrupted by coughing audience members left the stage between movements; when he returned he tossed a handful of lozenges into the crowd. A few years later and less congenially, Maestro Riccardo Muti brought his orchestra at the same music hall to a silent halt mid-performance when several audience members were coughing.
Though classical music performances don’t necessarily prompt itchy throats, it’s possible that audiences experience a contagious coughing effect that ...
