Mobile phones to make sweet music

Audiences are usually encouraged to turn off their phones

Audiences will be encouraged to turn on and use their mobile phones during a concerto in Chicago next month.

The resulting cacophony will form part of composer David Baker's 15-minute Concertino for Cellular Phones and Orchestra at the Chicago Sinfonietta.

Red and green lights will tell audience members when to activate their devices.

Baker, a music professor at Indiana University, told Reuters the piece would reflect the "wonderful balance" between order and chaos in society.

Audience members will be encouraged to randomly increase the volume of their ring tones during the piece.

"We're looking at it being a very adventuresome thing," music director Paul Freeman told the Los Angeles Times.

Two performances of the cell-phone concerto will be held to open the Sinfonietta's 20th anniversary season of classical music.