JD Vance, the US vice-president, was booed by the audience as he took his seat at a National Symphony Orchestra concert at Washington’s Kennedy Center on Thursday evening.

As the normal pre-concert announcements got under way, the vice-presidential party filed into the box tier. Booing and jeering erupted in the hall, drowning out the announcements, as Vance and his wife, Usha, took their seats.

Such a vocal, impassioned political protest was a highly unusual event in the normally polite and restrained world of classical music.

Vance ironically acknowledged the yelling and shouts of “You ruined this place!” with a smile and a wave.