At the Prague Philharmonia concert at Hill Auditorium in January, soloist Sarah Chang was nearing the end of the second movement of Dvorak’s violin concerto. As the music slowed and softened, notes from a French horn that clearly weren’t part of the score were suddenly audible in the hall.

When the movement ended a few seconds later, Chang dropped her violin to her side and laughed. Conductor Emmanuel Villaume stepped down from the podium with a grin on his face and talked and gestured to the patrons in the first few rows.

Then the piece resumed

–and so did the French horn player. Chang kept playing, but the double bassist closest to the rear of the stage put down his instrument, rose from his chair, and strode through the double doors to the wings. No more extraneous tones were heard.

“It was an orchestra member in a remote corner of the basement, warming up for the next piece,” says Mallory Shea, spokesperson for the University Musical Society. “The musician was looking for a warmup space that was safe from the ears of the audience, not knowing that no such place exists backstage at Hill. Its wonderful acoustics can sometimes be both a blessing and a curse!”