GOOD-HUMORED:Japanese conductor Joe Hisaishi stopped the orchestra and waited for the garbage truck to finish its tune, before bowing in its general direction

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 23, 2016
By: Nien Hsiang-wan, Yang Ming-yi and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Garbage trucks on Saturday inadvertently disrupted a performance by the New Japan

Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra in the National Taiwan University Sports Center when they started loudly playing pre-recorded tunes that signal waste collection, sparking outrage from classical music fans attending the event.

The internationally renowned orchestra was performing in the sports center when the trucks came to collect trash and recycling, playing music that twice disrupted musicians, sources said.

City garbage trucks play Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fur Elise and Tekla Badarzewska-Baranowska’s A Maiden’s Prayer at each collection stop to alert residents of collection times.

The music reportedly surprised conductor Joe Hisaishi, who looked around the venue for its source before giving up and waiting for the tune to finish. He then smiled and gave a polite bow in its general direction before resuming the performance, a gesture that earned him applause from the audience.     [FULL  STORY]