Help @handelandhaydn find this "wow" child! Find out more: https://t.co/TsjEQmeSYX pic.twitter.com/CeZcciRM2G
— 99.5 WCRB, Classical Radio Boston (@995WCRB) May 7, 2019
The Handel and Haydn Society orchestra played Mozart's "Masonic Funeral Music" last Sunday at the Boston Symphony Hall. When the last note was done, the entire hall could hear a child exclaim "Wow!" The voice was full of pure appreciation of the music. The audience giggled, then applauded loudly. The society thought it was so charming, they reached out online to find him. And they did. He is 9-year-old Ronan Mattin.
Ronan didn't mean to be disruptive, said his grandfather, Stephen Mattin, who took Ronan to the concert. His grandson, Mattin explained, is on the autism spectrum, and often expresses himself differently than other people.
"I can count on one hand the number of times that [he's] spontaneously ever come out with some expression of how he's feeling," Mattin said.
Ronan has been invited to meet with the Handel and Haydn Society's artistic director and learn more about the orchestra. -via the A.V. Club