An audience member at the Metropolitan Opera sprinkled a powdery substance - what the police said might have been the ashes of his mentor - into the orchestra pit during an intermission of a performance Saturday, setting off a police investigation and causing the cancellation of the rest of that opera and a production that evening.
The police said at a news conference Saturday night that they had identified the audience member, a man, through surveillance footage and interviews with witnesses he spoke to before the afternoon performance of Rossini's Guillaume Tell.
John J Miller, the deputy police commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, provided few details about the man or his mentor other than to say that the man was from outside of New York and that the police were trying to contact him.
The man told other patrons he was there to sprinkle the ashes during the performance, the police said. Miller said that the act might have been a violation of the city’s health code but that there was no criminal intent.
The episode, which unfolded around 4.30pm during the second intermission of the opera at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, prompted the company to cancel the rest of the show and Saturday night's performance of L'Italiana in Algeri. The Met will reopen Monday.
The man was observed reaching into a black bag and sprinkling the contents into two places in the orchestra pit. The performance did not resume because the action was perceived as a threat Mr Miller said. Tests were being done to identify the powder.
The person who was closest to the substance was examined, but no one was injured. “As a safety precaution, the Met canceled the remainder of the performance to err on the side of appropriate caution,” Sam Neuman, a Met spokesman, said in a statement. Audience members were first aware that something was wrong as the second intermission dragged on longer than scheduled. An announcement was made from the stage that there was a delay, said Micaela Baranello, a musicologist who was in the audience. Another audience member, Alexandra Sherman, said as the delay continued, security guards took up posts by the orchestra pit.
A little later, there was a second announcement: The final act was canceled. “There was some booing, and someone shouted, ‘I want my money back!’” Baranello said. The Met said two porters who used gloves and might have handled some of the substance were taken onto the Lincoln Center plaza, where they were checked by medical technicians and then released. The orchestra pit became a crime scene. Vincent Lionti, who plays viola in the orchestra, posted a picture on Twitter noting that the performance had been canceled and that his viola case was still in the pit. “As are all of our instruments!” a Twitter account run by the orchestra replied, followed by emojis of instruments and a frowny face.
The Met, like other performing arts organizations in New York, has increased security in recent years. Members of the audience are asked to open their bags when they enter the opera house, and security guards at the front doors use hand-held metal detectors.
After the performance was canceled, the audience filed out calmly, said Dylan Hayden (27) an opera fan from Toronto, who said he had been standing in the lobby during the intermission and did not see the episode.
NYT