Why Coughing Brought Down The Curtain on Our NSO Years

Several letters of complaint later, with no response from the Kennedy Center or the NSO, my only recourse is to decline to renew our long-held subscription. But enough of anger. Our overriding emotion is one of sadness.

My wife and I will miss seeing the familiar faces of National Symphony Orchestra members who almost seem like family to us after all the years of harmony. We will miss the exquisite musical moments we've heard so often in recent years under Maestro Slatkin. We will miss the exciting responsiveness of the orchestra that we heard when it was under the direction of its new principal conductor, Ivan Fischer.

But we will not miss sitting in the Kennedy Center trying to listen to a concert through all the wheezing, hacking and, yes, coughing.

-- Richard Gould

Washington