CBSO cries out for marketing
OrchestrasThe following ad has just been posted by Emma Stenning’s management.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MATERNITY COVER
Salary:
£50,000
Essential:
Work closely with the Chief Executive to develop and action clear strategies that deliver on the organisation’s objectives, which include:
Increasing and diversifying attendance at all CBSO performances, events, and activities.
Exploring new concert formats and ways to push the artform and audience experience forwards.
Take responsibility for the CBSO’s PR plans and for leading proactive and reactive communications in any challenging situations that might arise.
Up to date knowledge and experience of social media and digital marketing trends
A strong understanding of the importance of content creation and storytelling and using a variety of platforms to grow engagement and build a fanbase.
Desirable:
A passion for (and knowledge of) classical music
Interpret as you see fit.
They are also advertising for a principal oboe who must be Innovative and creative character with a broad outlook and will Adhere to all CBSO’s policies.
Hmmm… sounds like they might have someone in mind.
More of creative bureaucracy is not surprising, but I am curious to know what a first oboist is expected to do in order to be an “innovative and creative character”.
Not only it is essential to be a “innovative and creative character”, it is desirable (not essential) for their first oboe to have
Desirable:
• Experience of leading an orchestral oboe section
• Considerable recent orchestral experience as a professional oboist
Ummm…yes? Many principal oboes have not been soloists or principal oboes previously. How do you think one becomes a principal oboe otherwise?
Would you rather only invite current principal oboes to audition?
Read it more carefully.
Not just ‘principal oboe’. ‘Recent orchestral experience’ is also not essential at the CBSO.
And a student straight out of a conservatoire – the type who not uncommonly win auditions – also do not have “recent orchestra experience” at a professional level.
Why would the CBSO want a student leading its oboe section?
Most orchestras want a world-class player.
Have you never heard of 19-20 year olds winning auditions? This website is full of announcements of the kind. Noah Bendix-Balgley was concertmaster at 21.
More specifically: do you want young players banned from auditioning? Or should they have a shot at an audition as everyone else?
If you put an “essential” criterion to have experience as an orchestral soloist or as a principal chair, you’re excluding a whole lot of people who won’t have the chance to apply. Should someone who left the orchestra world to teach professionally years ago be banned from auditioning because they don’t have “recent orchestral experience”? Should a star student from a top music school not be allowed to apply? Should someone who’s been a professional soloist or chamber musician – but not an orchestra musician – not apply?
Obviously not. You consider it, as part of a broader array of criteria. And you give a range of people, experiences, and backgrounds and opportunity to prove themselves in audition.
Can you remove this article and the negative comments? It’s upsetting to Emma, we all need to get behind her so she can Make a Difference.
Boo hoo, grow some backbone and toughen up Emma. The only way is out – for you that is and asap.
Lost all respect for you Emma when you sat on a front row balcony seat with a drink in your hand because the music wasn’t important enough for you.
If only you put the same energy you put into defending yourself towards listening to your audience.
Resign.
Stop donating then. Call the Team tomorrow to pull your donations and privileges, you won’t be missed.
You won’t stop though because you’re too weak! We know old people keep donating so they have a purpose. 😉
So shut up and let Emma do her job.
Btw tickets are non-refundable so you’re definitely not getting that money back. Thanks for the support of Emma and the Team!
“We know old people keep donating so they have a purpose.” Wow. I have seen many hateful comments on this site, but this must be a contender for the gold medal.
Stop fighting, Emma. You’re showing you care only about yourself and not about the musicians you represent.
Surely this hounding of downers goes against the policies of the CBSO. It certainly appears to be veering towards intimidation. Your comments appear to suggest you know the identity of the person. In the corporate world this would be an unacceptable use of information obtained, and held in trust by your organisation. I’ve been involved with music all my life and am not ashamed to say this whole saga has in no way brought me any joy. Your policies are therefore unsuccessful, you have musicians refusing to consider the CBSO for employment and you are losing patrons and donors hand over fist. It sounds as if audiences have not been boosted to any size close to replacing or growing itself. By what kpi are you judging yourself successful?
This message is disgraceful. Patrons are already pulling donations due to your policies. Is that what you want?
Rebarbative and savage comments. Grow up!
It’s ridiculous that you’re in the comments here defending Emma (or are you Emma herself?). This is one of the biggest problems at CBSO right now: management focusing on themselves instead of prioritising members and players.
S/he isn’t defending Emma. She’s parodying Emma and her fellow travellers.
Why should we? I think she has managed to ‘upset’ quite a few people herself …
Grow up. At least most of those commenting use their real name. Unlike you!
Be careful what you pray for, Emma. You ask that ‘we all need to get behind you’. Remember what Winston Churchill said? ‘“The opposition occupies the benches in front of you, but the enemy sits behind you.”
I am fully behind you.
You ask that we all need to get behind you, Emma. Be careful what you pray for; remember what Winston Churchill said: ‘“The opposition occupies the benches in front of you, but the enemy sits behind you.”
I am fully behind you.
GOOD!
Have viola as back up…
Knowledge of classical music is DESIRABLE?
Does this narcissistic cow want to people the top of the CBSO with even more people to whom the core purpose of the orchestra, making music, is simply an ignorable element that just gets in the way of packing a “diverse” audience into the hall?
When does the madness stop?
The madness will stop only when their crazy new CEO is forced out!
You’ve clearly never read a job advert for an arts organisation in your life. And it will have been a copy/paste from previous marketing roles, written by HR; nothing to do with CEO.
Nothing to see here.
Ignorance is bliss eh. Allows you to make abusive comments about someone you’ve never met, and froth at the mouth.
‘What a sad little life, Jane’
I guess this is Emma (or Beki)?
The ad literally describes Emma Stenning’s plans for the future and how she needs help to meet these objectives…
I’ve met Stenning. She sat in front of me at a concert and drank her way through it. Selfish, disrespectful woman.
If you have to drink during a concert (as opposed to before, after and in the intermission) I would suggest a 12 step program…
Isn’t that a Stockhausen programme? Oh joy (capital J not required).
Emma speaks all the time about joy and respect.
When she’s not threatening our subscribers with bans, it’s great to see how much she respects our playing…
Drinking through a concert? Better than the time she stumbled out of a CBSO Centre concert halfway through…
Nice to see the courage and transparency of someone whom hides behind the letter ‘F’. Come to think of it …!
Gotta appreciate a bit of misogyny (“cow”, really?).
A marketing professional must know marketing, first and foremost. And a department manager must know how to administer a department. You can very much promote an orchestra without knowing the intricacies of how an organ produces sound or how to tune a clarinet. You have to understand the product you’re selling, yes. That’s not the same as being an advanced musicologist.
Besides, “desirable” criteria are important – most likely the ones which will decide of the person employed. But between someone who knows marketing but is less familiar with classical music and a musician who doesn’t know marketing, the choice is clear.
You articulate that response very well, and, believe me, I considered its general tenets very carefully before I posted. I have worked for four orchestras and before that had many years as a dance and music journalist working with the marketing and communications staffs on almost a daily basis.
I do not suggest that admin staff at orchestras be “advanced musicologists.” The running of such an enterprise demands many expertises. But I would like to hope that experts can be drawn from the number of those who already have some knowledge and appreciation of classical music.
What concerns me is that with a CEO to whom classical music appears to be a low element on her totem pole, if she hires people in more areas who share her propensities for targets and social objectives rather than producing and disseminating great classical music the whole project is lost.
Look around at any institution you have contact with and consider whether they are not top-heavy with administrators whose objectives have little to do with the main purpose of the institution. Is your health care better? Are schools better? Is your mail service better? Is the BBC better with its massive bureaucracy beyond those who actually create programmes? Are your banking services better? Your transportation services?
Ms. Stenning has not set a good example that would encourage faith in this sort of appointment. Comments about the boringness of classical music, a rush to bells and whistles that alienates the core supporters of the enterprise without discernibly making an impact on any other community. Sitting slurping drinks, probably armed with her phone so she can read or send texts all evening — anything rather than listen to the music that it is, or should be, her mission to promulgate. Leaving early.
The last few decades have seen the CBSO led by some of the most highly-regarded conductors in the world. Such artists would have ensured that they were working with the very best musicians they could. Result: a top tier orchestra, with a solid and enthusiastic fan base and donor group. Who are now the VERY lowest element on Emma’s totem pole, presumably because they are insufficiently “diverse.”
That ad essentially lays out where the effort is going to go at CBSO. Making first-class music takes second place to diversifying the audience. Yes, they need marketing and communications professionals. But if those people do not know what constitutes a typical classical music audience, the interests of that audience are going to be incrementally erased, and when they go, the musicians will not be far behind. These artists did not study and work all their lives to play rap or be accompanists to Disney flicks.
That is a very derogatory comment. Many fine musicians accompany films in concert often. Why deride them like this?
Most orchestra musicians I know enjoy their Pops series, which are usually minor parts of their seasons. Nice change of pace and, yes, less pressure. The part they like least is the accompaniment of films.
Brilliant!
This is the way forward for the CBSO and Symphony Hall, fire pits, tequilas, on demand tacos, Emma is being far too conservative.
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/bulgogi-tacos-fire-pits-and-tequila-bars-concertgoers-shell-out-for-vip-treatment-cf1f6602
“A passion for (and knowledge of) classical music” considered “desirable” but not “essential.”
To work in marketing for a symphony orchestra.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Except, of course, the CBSO management actually DID make this stuff up.
Wow I’d be interested in all of this. But the problem is I absolutely abhor classical music with a passion. All of it. It’s so boring and dull and stuffy. The worst thing in the world, even worse than ballet.
Thank HEAVENS a love for classical music is only marked as ‘desirable’ and not essential. So I guess i have a chance after all.
I really hope I get it. I’m sure Emma shares my ethos that it will be great over the next three years to eliminate all stupid classical music from the hall, and evolve the orchestra so they play only movie soundtracks and accompany pop stars. Would be great if the hall turned into a pop arena, to reflect the changing times of the 21st century and younger generations musical tastes.
You don’t understand the realities of running an orchestra!
Emma is a Leader who’s determined to improve the quality and relevance of CBSO. She is indispensible! Right now the players and audiences are white pale and stale, the current concert experience is boring and needs an overhaul.
Beki and her Marketing Team are working closely with Emma to make this a reality. So it’s important to get the best person while Beki’s on maternity and pay a Competitive Salary. It’s an investment in the future CBSO!
By contrast there are loads of musicians who basically all play the same thing, they’re not Leaders or Visionaries like Emma is. There’s no reason to pay over the top for an oboe when you can get another player for cheaper and hardly anyone will know the difference! Oboes are also less important for our Community and Outreach Concerts
Let’s move on and stop the hate on Emma! Next month we’ve got another highlight: “Summer of Sport”. We’ll have Caribbean food and fried chicken, spreading Joy to all Diverse Communities of Birmingham instead of being stuck in 1850. Who’s coming? See the CBSO website for details and tickets
Not a bad attempt at satire, but a bit too obvious.
Wrong 😉 Didn’t you hear about the Community Board Emma created? Google it!
They and their Associates get free tickets to concerts and in return give Feedback to Improve the orchestra.
This is the future, you’re the past!
I’m a young black woman studying music and I find this horribly offensive. I thought the fried chicken was a joke but it’s not:
https://cbso.co.uk/events/symphonic-sessions-summer-of-sport
My parents and grandparents stopped coming to most concerts with me because Emma doubled the prices of the cheapest seats.
Stop telling me I need concerts dumbed down to understand them.
Stop patronising black people as if they need special help.
Stop advertising concerts with fried chicken!
I find this very sad. It’s never a good idea for organisations trying to attract new customers to insult the existing customers. The audience right now has probably been built up over many years or decades. It sounds like it’s being alienated in a matter of months.
Is not a good idea untill sombody not very clever think is a good idea and put this into action leaving tbe rest of world wondering how such a stupid idea could have been thought in the first place: then is called a disgrace…
Hang on, both of you. This event is being held in Hockley Social Club, not Symphony Hall. This is OUTREACH, it’s a themed pops concert, it’s casual and a rather jolly-sounding summer night out. It sounds a brilliant idea to me.
I have been to concerts — symphonic and operatic — in the park in summer, where people bring their own chairs or blankets and eat what they want or buy from food vending trucks. They smoke, they come and go, but on the whole people pay attention to the music.
This seems to be a similar sort of endeavour.
Even if this is the case, does Stenning realise that “fried chicken” isn’t the right solution to get black people to hear the orchestra?
Yes, that is rather distasteful, though I do not think “fried chicken” carries the same symbolism on the UK that it does in the US.
And I’m sure that riposte would be much the same for people of any ethnic group too! Look behind the thin veneer of rationale and see what they’re really up to!
Could they spice things up a bit by hiring Maestra Tár and other dynamic conductors? Or perhaps feature Taylor Swift as a soloist? I have given a lot of money to orchestras in the past but I no longer will. This entire business has become a huge, sad joke.
Crass, ignorant ranting from someone so courageous … they’re nameless!
This diatribe is worthy of Yekaterina Furtseva; she was the dominatrix of Soviet Union ‘culture’. She now sits on the Supreme Soviet in the sky, so there’s a vacancy for you. You’d be far better off, Emma, if you resigned and offered your (diss)ervices to Putin.
You may or may not be typing satire, I Support Emma, but there’s no need to be racist and bigoted about 2 ethnic groups to do it. There’s a fine line between wit and a cheap shot and that was two cheap shots that crossed the line.
Hi Norman,
Thanks for supporting with our recruitment (the deadline is Friday for anyone interested)!
We do think it’s essential to share the full un-edited version of the job description though, which can be found on our website here: https://cbso.co.uk/jobs/director-of-marketing-communications-fixed-term-maternity-cover
Thanks!
The CBSO
Hi CBSO!
Why do you think it’s acceptable to put a noisy photographer in the hall who distracted the audience? Why did Emma send this nasty, threatening email to a much-loved audience member who found it distracting and asked the photographer to be more respectful?
Hello Tim,
Several of my team have reported to me, both on Saturday evening and this morning, that you were aggressive and abusive towards our photographer, Andrew Fox, who was employed by the orchestra to take pictures of the concert.
Andrew is an extremely experienced photographer, who regularly shoots at Symphony Hall for both us and other organisations. I know him to be highly professional, and deeply respectful of only disturbing those around him to a minimal degree. Andrew reports that he has never before been subject to such behaviour from an audience member, and I must add that I too have never experienced a performance photographer being treated in this unacceptable way.
I must refer you to our respect policy, which is on our website here: https://cbso.co.uk/terms-conditions/respect-policy
If you have an issue with any aspect of our work at the CBSO, I ask that you raise it with myself, Beki or the relevant member of the Senior Management Team in a respectful and calm manner.
Your consistent failure to do this is now a matter of note for us, and I ask that you give the nature of your future approaches to our staff some thoughtful consideration.
Best wishes,
Emma.
Is this genuine? If it is, it should be taken straight to the Board of Directors.
The moment Emma starts threatening audience members who have their concerts disrupted is the moment she has gone too far.
Straight to the Board of Directors…?
Nothing threatening about that email at all.
Sounds like Tim was being an a**ehole, and isn’t used to being told when he’s being an a**ehole, so was triggered into another tantrum. What a snowflake.
Hi Emma! Feeling the heat yet?
Tim is one of CBSO’s greatest supporters.
https://seenandheard-international.com/tim-walton-celebrates-2000-concerts-at-the-birmingham-symphony-hall/
Do you not question how you are getting so much negative feedback but it’s always someone else’s fault?
The previous management used to send Tim a bottle of wine now and again to recognise his support of the orchestra.
The current management tracks down his email address from his seat number and threatens to ban him from coming. Them calls him an a**ehole when they get caught.
Despicable from Stenning.
Is Emma Stenning deluded?
Someone has a concert impaired by a distraction in the hall and instead of apologising and listening to the feedback she issues veiled threats to stop him from attending in the future?
Not so much deluded – more deranged.
Ah, that would explain why ticket sales are falling….. she’s threatened to stop regulars attending. Why not just fire Ms Stenning- that would be an instant gain of over £50K in the orchestra funds.
“only disturbing those around him to a minimal degree” – he had better not disturb me AT ALL….
Genuine question…. Who on earth describes *themself* as a “ much-loved audience member”?!
I’m not Tim. But we all know him as someone who comes each week to Symphony Hall to support music and the orchestra.
Tim shared the email widely to expose the truth about Emma. Her behaviour is unacceptable.
ah forgive me. I wouldn’t put it past Tim to have described himself as such, but happy to be corrected.
Thank you for the kind reply. Wish you well!
Sounds like you were abusive and got called out. Can’t pretend to be the victim now
Yes! It’s another example of how Stenning treats music lovers with complete disregard.
She’s two movements short of a symphony.
I think calling this individual a ” much-loved” audience member is a bit of a stretch. Guessing you’ve never met them…
Thank you for this email, although I am unaware that I gave anyone permission to post this email.
It’s been done so it is only fair that I reply to it.
The last paragraph – ‘Your consistent failure to do this is now a matter of note for us’ – is somewhat inaccurate.
I have never criticised any member of the wonderful orchestra or a conductor As far as I can remember (I am 75), the only member of staff I have needed to criticised, for a very long time, is Emma. The first time in writing (as she asks people to do) and then in a public meeting when almost everyone who spoke joined in with the criticism. I then had a private meeting with Emma to further explain my criticism. Again this is what Emma wanted!
That was until the problem with the cameraman who showed no consideration to the audience by using a noisy camera. What else could I do in the middle of the concert, without causing a big disruption? At the end of the first half, two members of the audience, who were sitting near me (I have no idea who they were), thanked me for telling the man to go away – and said they would have said the same thing if I hadn’t!
This was my reply to Emma, which I sent just before the start of the concert. Needless to say, I didn’t get a reply from Emma. Likewise, I emailed Emma earlier this month to thank her for starting to make announcements, prior to concerts, about the taking of photos. I didn’t get a reply for that either!
Emma
I’m sorry about that, but he was sitting on the floor within 3 feet of me and his camera was continually clicking, which was distracting.
I said stop clicking and move. That is all.
My brother-in-law is a professional photographer and his equipment cost tens of thousands. His camera doesn’t make clicking noises every time he takes a photo so there is no reason why your photographer can’t use a silent camera and then he wouldn’t annoy anyone.
Sorry, but the paying audience is more important than anything else.
It won’t happen again as long as he brings a silent camera after all Berlioz didn’t include a clicking camera in his score, neither did any other composer, as far as I am aware.
Tim
I looked at your oboe role weeks ago. Your Section Leader Oboe says the following are desirable but not essential:
• Experience of leading an orchestral oboe section
• Considerable recent orchestral experience as a professional oboist
Embarrassing by comparison that it is essential to be a “creative character with a broad outlook”. I shared this with my colleagues at the time: do not apply to Birmingham if you want to be respected!
Dear Emma and Beki,
I cancelled my subscription after your recent actions.
It’s shocking you reply in under an hour to this article, but when subscribers raise concerns with you, you ignore them for months, send the same dismissive letter back to everyone and threaten some people with bans.
You should be ashamed.
Great to know you are active on here and still ignoring all of the feedback you are getting.
Is it true that the CBSO requires applicants to give detailed informations about their sexual preferences? And about their religious beliefs? According to the job announcement and the “equal opportunities form” the CBSO wants to know allt this in detail!
I certainly hope not. Here in Canada it is illegal to address any such personal details of a candidate. The law allows them to question age, as there are minimum ages for working and mandatory retirement practices in some sectors.
From the CBSO website:
We ask that you complete the equal opportunities information online when you submit your application. The information collected will be treated as confidential and used for [sic] to help the CBSO improve its approach to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation.
Your Gender:
Female
Male
Non-binary
Prefer not to say
Other
Your Marriage/Civil Partnership Status:
Married/ Civil Partnership
Single
Cohabiting
Prefer not to say
Other
Your Age is:
…
Your Orientation:
Heterosexual/ Straight
Gay/ Lesbian
Bisexual
Prefer not to say
Other
Your Beliefs:
Christian
Buddhist
Hindu
Jewish
Muslim
Sikh
No Religion/ Belief
Prefer not to say
Other
Your Nationality:
UK
EU
Other
Your Ethnicity:
Ethnic origin is not about nationality, place of birth or citizenship. It is about the group to which you perceive you belong. Please tick the appropriate box
White
Mixed/ Multiple Ethnic Origins
Asian/ British Asian
Black/ African/ Caribbean/ Black British
Other Ethnic Background
Prefer not to say
Collecting demographic data from applicants is a legal requirement.
…and declining it is a legal option too.
Beliefs, orientation and marital status are illegal on job applications in the UK. So is asking female applicants if they plan to start a family (for that matter, men are also by law entitled to paternity leave).
Us lot sitting here commenting on a forum may know our rights and be sharp elbowed enough to avoid such questions, but impressionable new graduates- or young talented artists struggling for months without a steady income- may be misled into thinking they should “be cooperative” and fill out every box obediently, when it could put them in a vulnerable position and is after all, none of HR’s or their employer’s d@#& business.
I’m sure directors/ musicians/ both can make up their minds when they see the candidate turn up and perform.
Shouldn’t that be “sex”, not “gender”?
Or perhaps there should be one section asking for your sex, another asking for your gender.
The form is open for all to see! Wouldn’t it be a shame if people submit wrong information to screw up their stats?
https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=9jqdVJI8zEG0hWyfYmdxp2zNMu9K_WNGliIMSa4DHURUOVMzMzVZWlNJWk9aVzBLQzRSTlVQWVdHNyQlQCN0PWcu
This is starting to feel less about whether Emma has the skills to do the job and more just general nastiness.
I’ve been asked to complete one of these for every job I’ve applied to recently. It’s very normal in any sector.
Let’s be honest, it wont be Emma collating this information and being questioned if it’s been filled in 1,000 times when only 50 people have applied or something like that. It will be some lowly admin person who has nothing to do with the decision making who suffers if people do this.
Once again, V Lind, you are incorrect.
Canadian organisations ask this through voluntary equal opportunities forms to help monitor who is applying.
Unless, of course, as I suspect you last had a job in 1980.
People like you have no idea how the world actually works now. Maybe sit back and learn rather than make stuff up.
Thank you for the correction. I worked until quite recently, in fact, but have rarely in my career had a job — I have usually worked on contracts, and was generally recruited, so filled in few forms — mostly contact details and next of kin.
But I am, as you imply, old enough to remember when it was illegal to ask things like sex or religion in job applications. I have never been asked them except in surveys I have voluntarily taken part in, and there, as noted, the “prefer not to say” option is included.
The CBSO is required to collect this information in order to report to their major funder, Arts Council England. The information is collected with the job application, but will be removed before the applications are assessed, and logged for monitoring and reporting purposes. The Classical Music sector has a big problem with attracting people from diverse backgrounds, so it is imperative this data is collected and reported on.
They have a voluntary EO form just like every other arts organisation.
Plays no part in recruitment process, but very useful to know who is and isn’t applying.
But you knew that, didn’t you…
Got to love the fact that Beki Smith’s maternity cover will be paid the same as the principal oboe position we can’t fill…
Emma’s found the secret: overpay your support team so they all blindly follow your ideology. What hope do we have when you’re led by a CEO who doesn’t give a damn about serious music and is proud of it?
50k to be in the marketing team that came up with this travesty to advertise Mahler 9?
“Turn up the joy!
Find your own moments of joy in our 2024-25 season.
Join us for spirit lifting, roof raising, toe tapping musical experiences.
Find your happy place as our epic orchestra and Music Director Kazuki Yamada take to the stage and fill our city, streets and hearts with passion, energy and joy.
Whether you’re looking to fill an afternoon, an evening or even make a weekend of it, it’s time for you to take your seat, forget the world for a while and fill up with our most joyful season yet.”
Can I take the job for 40k if I also say “joy” lots?
I don’t generally associate Mahler with “joy” unless he ghostwrote something like The Nutcracker or The Blue Danube.
Perhaps the marketing team knows something we don’t?
Find your happy place with Mahler 9?! Do these people even know the music they are writing about?
I bet even NL with his legendary love of Gustav would be hard pushed to do that. Mahler 4 maybe (with the right soloist, of course).
Wow. That’s an embarrassing piece of writing.
My children always looked forward to the Christmas performance of Kindertotenlieder.
The psychiatric bills came later.
Genius.
Also feelin’ the Joy whenever I hear that Gus Mahler number about a starving kiddie singing to his Mum.
Jesus, that’s really dismal copy.
“Toe tapping”. In 50 years of professional playing, I have never associated those two words with Mahler.
Emma could save the £50,000 and instead start listening to the feedback patrons and players are giving her.
Unfortunately she doesn’t care and she’ll do everything it takes to turn the CBSO into a community group. This advertisement is yet more evidence that it will only get worse.
I am qualified and experience for the role, but nothing on earth would make me have anything to do with CBSO professionally until Stenning is gone. Pure and simple. I don’t care about the salary. (Under paid, btw).
Thank you for sharing Norman.
Every step of the way Emma is criticising our playing and music (boring and irrelevant apparently), and making poor decisions that affect our reputation.
CBSO Things That Never Happened, Number 27284
It did happen:
https://slippedisc.com/2024/06/remember-when-cbso-was-relevant/
Again, if you really were a player you would know that this is absolutely not true.
Stop pretending to be one it’s pathetic.
Another fake from Emma’s team.
If you’re serious, why don’t you take 10 seconds at the start of the next rehearsal to voice your support for Emma against the constant criticism she’s getting? If you’re telling the truth and she has real support, you could do it and nobody would bat an eyelid.
Of course that’s not going to happen. She is hated by most of us but we have to stay quiet for the sake of our jobs. Thankfully it look as if she’ll be forced out pretty soon…
Again, that is all absolute clap trap.
No real mention of the music in that JD. Nor any indication that previous experience in the music industry would be useful. Will CBSO soon stand for “Central Birmingham Sandwich Operation”?
Dear “Real Vikings have no horns on helmets”,
It’s true. The horns are real.
Consider, 44 management wokes, 12 trustees and others to look after 90 musicians, whereas Quebec orchestra with 52 musicians survives with 5 managers. Could Emma explain why she needs all these staff?
https://cbso.co.uk/about-us/staff-trustees
Grow the fanbase! Create content! Action strategies! Lead proactively, reactively, and strategically! Push the experience!
There is absolutely nothing odd with either of these posts. One is a maternity cover. The other specifies the job requirement, and ‘following employer policies’ is a very standard one.
This is grasping at straws.
The responses on here are pitiful, agreed. These are utterly standard adverts, similar in most essentials to those used by the CBSO for recruitment for most of the last two decades – when they attracted no comment at all. This is a pile-on, simple as that – with an unpleasant undertone of misogyny.
Bollocks. This is a fascinating conflict in the raw between an inexperienced manager who came in bearing slogans and a conservative audience that does not like change. It’s a soap opera far livelier than The Archers and with an outcome less protracted.
You may perhaps be right on the situation as a whole. But these are eminently normal job postings. What’s exceptional about an institution seeking a maternity cover? Or about an employee being expected to follow policies? The language is of the kind found in dozens of job ads all the time.
I am old but do not need to donate to CBSO in order to have a purpose.
I have deer, red squirrels, badgers, woodpeckers etc in my garden . These, plus the fact that I can listen to Dvorak’s New World with Fricsay conducting the Berlin Phil (surely the finest version)while perusing these creatures from my conservatory, means that I don’t have to think about the mediocrity which , pro tempore, holds the helm at the CBSO.
This creature , with her arsenal of the 21st century worst words – diversity, woke, etc would be perfect for running the Post Office or joining that other clown Justin Welbye in the Anglican Church. Now that’s really the perfect spot for her pursuit of insanity.
It’s not bollocks Norman. IC225 is completely right. I hope you are enjoying the pile on.
Also Sprach NL. Brilliantly summed up in four lines. But, as they say, never argue with an idiot because, if you do, the rest of the world won’t tell you apart. So don’t blame us posters on this thread if you now get a ten-page babbling brook of the aforementioned b******s from ‘I Adore Emma’ or ‘Emma is the Messiah Incarnate’!
I’m glad that you concede, at least, that it’s all basically a work of fiction. “How Green was my Ink”?
Cynical Brexit Success Organisation
Proof that the CBSO management wants to literally profit from the death of its audience is here – launched this year, they have a patrons’ free will writing partnership.
https://www.nbblaw.co.uk/complimentary-will-writing-service-for-cbso/
If it wasn’t so serious, it would be ludicrous. Do they even think about the messaging of all of this?
Please, somebody realise that music is what matters stupid and the livelihoods of the wonderful CBSO musicians. The entire board and management can take a hike to shark infested waters as far as I am concerned, with Stenning leading the joyful way.
Has anyone approached Sir Simon Rattle about what is going on with the orchestra that made him? He’s been uncharacteristically quiet for a man with so many opinions.
Excellent! Maybe some of you boomers will actually part with some of the wealth you’re hoarding in property and finally contribute to society rather than destroying it!
Any arts organisation worth its salt will have a legacy scheme. Nothing to see here, yet again.
This is literally normal – open any orchestra’s list of donor, and you’ll see “succession of” or “bequest of” plenty of times.
Universities have been doing this for years, if not decades as well. Pretty sure I’ve seen several orchestras and opera houses do it as well.
‘Profit’? You’ve never worked in the arts, have you?
In common with most large arts organisations, the CBSO has a legacy giving scheme and it has been in place for around two decades now. Check your facts before commenting.
“You’ve never worked in the arts, have you?” – yes, for over 40 years – what have you done?
I’ve thrown a kettle over a pub.
Someone should rattle his cage…
Calm down about the will writing offer, it’s been around long before the current CEO. Other arts and non-arts charities do it too.
NL’s description of this as a soap opera is one dimension. Another is funding: this is what happens when most of your subsidy vanishes and the board appoints someone who they hope will raise income in new ways. It’s new to us in the UK for an orchestra or company as large as CBSO, who are unlucky to be first in line due to a broke local authority. It won’t be the last.
Frankly I’m horrified by all this. My concern is that management and distrust will destroy the intangible bonds that turn a group of players into an outstanding orchestra.
CBSO are in my will (they don’t know it because I dislike the attention some charities waste on you). I’m leaving it until I’ve been to a few more concerts before deciding whether to change the legacy to RLPO or Hallé.
Are the board still convinced this is the right way to go?
Guys, guys, guys: I Support Emma is a parody account. See for instance the post below beginning “Stop donating then”, with its giveaway emoticon and that “old people keep donating so they have a purpose”. Come on!
(Though then again, and to be fair, any confusion on the point is of course entirely of Emma’s own making.)
You don’t know about the new Community Board?
Emma created it and wants Feedback from them and their Associates for how to make the CBSO Better and more Relevant for Everyone in Birmingham.
It looks like that this is not yet clear…only hope is that the real Emma does not read this otherwise she can find I support Emma a source of inspiration….
Quite so, Edoardo. Another obvious way that I Support Emma signals the parody is with the wacky caps (“Relevant for Everyone”) and all those teenage shriek marks!!!
My wife and I live near Leicester and can easily visit Brum and symphony hall by rail. But the rail disputes have reduced our ability to visit wonderful concerts.
If only that could be sorted out once and for all,,,,,
Huw Thomas
The problem here is that you can fight againts the evil but not against tbe stupid. Battles against stupidity are lost since there is no weapon against it.
Can someone translate this ad. Into English? Are the musicians paid 50 grand?
Their oboe rate is 35 to 50 grand a year.
What’s is the CBSO?
Just a friendly reminder: Any arts organization is a service provider to us the patrons. You need us more than we need you.
This is rather disingenuous. Finding someone to cover the Director of Marketing’s maternity leave is not ‘crying out for marketing’. Please remove this sexist and offensive title.