Hush no more! Take pictures and clap whenever you want, says diverse orchestra
An orchestra is to allow audiences to use their phones and applaud whenever they want to as part of a diversity drive.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) said it had decided to drop “any perceived ‘rules’ of a traditional concert”.
Ticket-holders are now encouraged to use their mobile phones to film and take photos.
However, the reforms have already caused concerns, with one tenor forced to halt his performance because of the distractions, and audience members complaining that their enjoyment has been spoiled by fellow ticket-holders using their devices.
The CBSO has brought in a raft of permissive new policies in order to attract “a range of audiences and communities”.
This includes explicit invitations, displayed on signs in the ensemble’s Symphony Hall venue, for audience members to “Bring drinks into the auditorium. Clap whenever they like. Wear whatever makes them feel comfortable. Take photos or short snippets of film (and to share them with us)”.
The CBSO disavowed traditional rules for concert-going in late 2023, promising to oversee a “revolution” in how orchestral music is presented to audiences.
The 10-year plan was backed by the company’s chief executive, Emma Stenning, and by its board chairman, former BBC director-general Lord Hall of Birkenhead.
A mission statement said: “To widen its audience, heighten its impact and release its potential, orchestral music needs to be presented in new ways.
“By embracing a more purposeful approach to programming with, by and for a range of audiences and communities, we will begin to discover new relevance across our programme of events.”
The plans were rolled out to make the ensemble more relevant to a broader public by diversifying performers, the concerts programme, and by making the concert experience more welcoming to new audiences.
On April 17, the new direction caused trouble when tenor Ian Bostridge stopped in the middle of a piece from Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations to complain that being filmed was “extremely distracting”.
The CBSO released a statement reminding audiences that, while the company is “happy for you to take photographs and short video clips’’, ticket-holders should “refrain from recording the whole performance”.
It added: “We do ask that you are mindful of disturbing other audience members.”
The new policies have not been popular with all audience members.
Writer Ruth Millington, author of This Book Will Make You An Artist, has complained about the new concert experience at the Hall.
She said: “Most concerning is an invitation for people to ‘take photos or short snippets of film’.
“The use of phones, even when on silent, is extremely distracting for both other audience members, as well as performers on stage.
“Increased phone use will surely alienate current audiences, while not attracting new, younger ones, which I imagine is the motivation behind this relaxation of the rules.
“The joy of attending a music concert is to listen and escape, uninterrupted, for just a few hours. Everyone can put their phones down for this amount of time.”
The CBSO has been contacted for comment.
