When nature encroaches on classical music, the results are sometimes disastrous, sometimes wondrous, but never dull.
I remember a particularly atmospheric performance at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, in which an audibly stormy and windswept backdrop leant great atmosphere to a performance of Haydn’s Symphony No. 59 given by the musicians of Chamber Music Berlin-Vienna in the outdoor Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater… though the orchestra looked less than pleased as sheets of rainy mist made their way towards them through gaps to the side of the stage roof.
I’ve also had the misfortune of being dive-bombed by bats when performing at a wedding with my own string quartet. Not our finest hour, though being the professionals that we are, we soldiered on as best we could.
'A stray cat wandered on stage'
But on Friday I witnessed perhaps the best example of art and nature in synchronicity when a stray cat wandered on stage during a performance of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony given by Festival Strings Lucerne at the 52nd Istanbul Music Festival.
The people of Istanbul love cats, and set up food and play stations for the city’s wild felines. Apparently, this cat is a regular in the Lutfi Kirdar International Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the concert was held, and the assembling audience members were charmed – even giving a hearty applause – when she coolly walked across the stage before the performance began.
But as the concert’s second half started (following a fluid and elegant performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto by Maria João Pires), our feline friend appeared on stage again before walking through the audience and attempting to leap onto the lap of a most unimpressed man in the row ahead of me.
'She reacted as if to live birds'
When she next appeared on stage, the circumstances couldn’t have been better for her star appearance. As cuckoo calls in the orchestral part sounded, she reacted as if to live birds, much to the delight of the crowd.
A cat makes its way on stage during Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony at the 52nd Istanbul Festival
The performance itself was a joy – the conductorless Lucerne players bringing a genuine chamber music feeling to the work, with all the fluidity that implies, under the direction of their concertmaster Daniel Dodds. But I suspect it’s the fantastic coming together of art and nature that the audience will take away. Beethoven, I have no doubt, would be delighted!
Need more cats?
We've got plenty more beautiful stories about cats and classical music for you. For example, have you seen the way this elegant black feline reacts to Mahler? Quite something. And you should definitely check out this kitten's reaction to the violin. Just too cute.
We shouldn't be surprised to learn of the synergy between cats and classical music. It turns out that a surprising number of great composers had a special fondness for cats.
Perhaps the most devoted feline fan was Maurice Ravel, the genius behind Boléro, who kept several Siamese cats and let them roam freely, even on his workdesk. Ravel even incorporated sounds of cats meowing into his opera, L'enfant et les sortilèges. Have a listen to the 'Duo Miaulé' (Miaowed Duet), below:
Cats and composers: a long love affair
Among other cat-loving composers, Igor Stravinsky also enjoyed the company of felines and was frequently photographed with them. Erik Satie—eccentric and deeply empathetic toward animals—had a particular soft spot for felines, while Alban Berg often wrote about his cats in letters and was regularly pictured cuddling them.
Italian opera maestro Gioachino Rossini’s affection for cats may have led, directly or indirectly, to one of classical music’s most charming oddities: the Duetto buffo di due gatti (Comic Duet for Two Cats). Though likely arranged by someone else using Rossini’s melodies, the piece reflects his playful spirit. Here's the great Kiri Te Kanawa in fine feline form:
Claude Debussy, too, was a known cat lover. His pet Minou often kept him company, and many listeners hear a feline grace in his music’s fluid elegance. For these composers, cats weren’t just companions—they were muses with whiskers. And Aaron Copland had a well-known affection for cats, sharing his home with several over the years.
He often spoke of their calming presence, and photos frequently show him with a cat curled in his lap—quiet companions during his more introspective composing sessions. For Copland, these feline friends offered not just comfort, but gentle inspiration in moments of stillness and reflection.
