The climax of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday had nothing to do with the music but a “satisfied” concertgoer.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a woman named Molly Grant attended the concert when she heard a “scream” or “moan” erupt from the balcony during a music break.
“Everyone kind of turned to see what was happening,” Grant explained to the outlet. “I saw the girl after it had happened, and I assume that she…had an orgasm because she was heavily breathing, and her partner was smiling and looking at her — like in an effort to not shame her.”
She said the moment “was quite beautiful.”
While it’s not definite that the woman had an orgasm, many other concertgoers rushed to social media, claiming that the noise sounded orgasmic.
Music producer and composer Magnus Fiennes attended the show and wrote that the “woman in the audience had [a] loud and full body orgasm.”
Went to see @LAPhil play @Thomasades and Tchaikovsky 5 last night. A woman in the audience had loud and full body orgasm during the 5th’s second movement… Band politely carried on. Props to LAPhil (and Pytor Ilyich) for bringing it on….
— Magnus Fiennes (@magnusfiennes) April 29, 2023
Journalist Jocelyn Silver claimed interviewees told her the woman had a “screaming orgasm, to the point where the whole orchestra stopped playing,” but audio proved this false.
friends who went to the LA philharmonic last night are reporting that in the middle of the show some lady had a SCREAMING orgasm, to the point where the whole orchestra stopped playing. some people really know how to live…
— Jocelyn Silver (@silverjocelyn) April 29, 2023
There was a point in the audio and music where the orchestra stopped because it was written in the music for them to do. It’s also where the loud orgasm-like sound erupted. However, the orchestra continued, unfazed by the vocal addition to the piece.
During Tchaikorskys 5th symphony at the LA Philharmonic last night, apparently, a woman had a full-body orgasm just from the music. It was recorded. pic.twitter.com/uLJIGvJ3yQ
— Macrodosing (@MacrodosingPod) May 1, 2023
One concertgoer claimed the woman wasn’t having an orgasm but a “breakdown.” He said he heard her partner attempting to calm her down by saying, “Breathe, breathe, you’re going to be all right.”
I was there. This is not what happened. The poor woman had a breakdown of some sort. Speaking to Elim after the concert (we are friends since out time together at U of M) and we were all worried it was a medical emergency. Please have more respect. (Orchestra didn’t stop either.)
— Rodrigo Ruiz (@rodrigoruiz1988) May 1, 2023
Music agent Lukas Burton doesn’t specifically know what happened but said it was someone who was possibly vocally expressing the omnipotent impact of the performance.
“One can’t know exactly what happened, but it seemed very clear from the sound that it was an expression of pure physical joy,” Burton explained. “A sort of classical-music equivalent of that scene in a movie where someone is talking loudly in a party or a nightclub, and then the record suddenly stops, and they say something that everyone hears.”
He continued, “…that was a rather lovely expression of somebody who was so transported by the music that it had some kind of effect on them physically or, dare I say, even sexually.”
Music is quite puissant enough to penetrate the soul.
