Disappointed fans who failed to get tickets for world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s one-off performance in Bermuda have criticised the event organisers for making so few seats available to the general public.

The February 1 recital at City Hall, part of the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, sold out in less than two hours after tickets went on sale at 10am yesterday.

The organisers had recommended early booking owing to there being “little more than 350 tickets available” for the show.

But some fans who tried to buy online at www.bdatix.bm at 10am on the dot said there were none available even then, while another said she queued at Public & Circumstance in Hamilton from 9.15am — only to be told the store had just ten tickets for sale.

“Nowhere in the festival literature, online, or in press stories was it ever mentioned that anything less than full ticket availability would be equal at all points of sale,” said a woman, who asked not to be named. “And certainly not when I made an extensive inquiry of Pulp and Circumstance staff yesterday.

“I was not alone among those walking out this morning in disappointment and disgust.”

The woman said she understood that corporate sponsors would always be allocated some tickets but questioned how many were really available for sale to others.

“Why not be honest and give the public the true facts regarding availability of the rest? What a fiasco. The festival cannot have been so naive as to believe that demand would not be enormous, so why little City Hall, and why a range of very steep prices?

“Why not a larger venue, given that this would be Mr Ma’s only performance? Or was this really only ever to be an event for special guests and sponsors, with a sprinkling of leftovers for the public?”

The festival announced that the show was a sell-out in a press release issued at 11.50am yesterday.

“Having a world-renowned musician like Yo-Yo Ma accept our invitation to perform in the ruby anniversary of the Bermuda Festival is incredible,” Ian Davidson, the festival chairman, said.

“Due to his popularity, the fact that we were only able to engage him for a single night, and a limited amount of seating, all tickets for his Founder’s Recital have sold out incredibly quickly.

“We apologise for any disappointment that this may have caused. However, there are many additional world-class performances in our 2015 line-up, for which tickets are available that should have broad appeal to the Bermuda community.”

The woman who queued in Hamilton described Mr Davidson’s comments as “blithe”, adding: “In reality, whoever else he deems ‘world-class’ is not in the same league as the world’s finest cellist.”

A commentator on The Royal Gazette’s website, who tried to get tickets online, wrote: “At the stroke of 10am everything was gone, with the exception of a few seats that when you clicked on them, they said they were no longer available.

“If everything was sold beforehand, which I believe they were, just let us know. Making us all think we had a chance was just mean.”

Another posted: “I feel that the Bermuda Festival has treated the public with contempt. By all means have a private show of Yo-Yo Ma for presold corporate sponsors, but have the decency to be upfront about what you’re doing. It’s not very nice to advertise it as a public event if it really isn’t.

“I feel this has dampened the mood of what could have been a very positive festival. There are a lot of disappointed people out there who did not even have a snowball in hell’s chance of getting a ticket.”

The Founder’s Recital, in honour of Lord Menuhin, the festival’s late founder, will include Mr Ma performing Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suites Numbers 1, 3 and 5 — his recording of which won him a Grammy Award. Tickets ranged in price from $75 to $195.

The festival website states: “This is a very rare opportunity to hear Mr Ma’s interpretation of this famous work at close hand in an intimate setting.”

It was not possible to reach anyone from the festival yesterday and the public relations firm that sent out the press release said that it was unable to comment.