Yannick’s view on phones in concerts
OrchestrasJust over a year ago, the Philadelphia music director twice turned round and gave his audience a tongue-lashing for not switching off its phones during Bruckner’s 9th symphony.
‘Can we live without the phone for just one damn hour?’ railed Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to general approval.
There has been no repetition of the incident in Philadelphia at least.
Let this be a reminder to those ‘modernisers’ who fear their audiences will feel their human rights have been violated if they are required to shut off their phones in a concert.
It should be the duty of a music director to apply rules of conduct in concert. In Birmingham, that duty appears to have been usurped.
No matter your opinion on him, Yannick is a musician.
Emma Stenning comes from the theatre world with zero music experience. She said herself the first concert she attended was when she was in her 30s. Much has been said about how she drinks through a concert despite the audience around her choosing to prioritise the music. A focus of the season is ‘ninth symphonies’ but the only word she knows for Bruckner 9 and Mahler 9 is ‘joy’ in her ‘Season of Joy’.
Emma’s priority is making CBSO ‘relevant’ to people who do not go to concerts. That’s why she’s pushing for lighting and films to ‘enhance’ (her word!) concerts. That’s why she created a ‘Community Board’ of non-musicians to advise her on changes she could make.
The scariest part of all is that she’s not listening to any feedback and pushing harder than ever. When she started getting criticism she created a respect policy and sent letters to critics threatening to ban them from future concerts.
Hi!
We want to remind you and others of our Respectful Behaviour Policy:
https://cbso.co.uk/terms-conditions/respect-policy
“Anyone who engages with the CBSO is committing to being part of a culture that values compassion, respect, and joy.”
We ask you kindly to reconsider your actions and consider the effect they have on others. You are not contributing enough compassion, respect and joy towards the CBSO.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
information@cbso.co.uk
Emma, don’t you realise you’re digging yourself a bigger hole?
Your focus should be listening to your patrons. Not creating a respect policy that tries to shut them down.
Emma simply can’t handle any criticism. Whenever something is brought up she replies with ‘opinions are mixed’. She invests a lot of time in pushing her opinions and listening inside her bubble (such as her new Community Board) while playing down anything else.
Miss Stenning has become the laughing stock of the music world, something she has fully brought upon herself.
How much longer will she hold on to her job?
Is she waiting to be pushed just to secure a better payout?
Gotta say if Emma were involved with any real world “profit making” enterprise she would have been put-out on the Birmingham curb/kerb a long time ago.
I hope everyone sends you an email saying what a piece of sh*t this policy is.
People come to CBSO for music not patronising lectures. Don’t tell me I can’t criticise Emma’s batsh*t crazy decisions.
Try it! You’re not gonna get anywhere as long as Emma is in charge!
If you want to talk about respect, Emma, let’s talk about the time you tracked down and sent a threatening letter to an audience member who complained that your social media photographer was making too much noise during a concert.
Let’s talk about how you’ve called us and our playing racist, boring and irrelevant since you joined.
Sounds like a telescreen announcement from 1984.
Looks like one too, but wrapped in 2024 “trick-or-treat” costumes.
The language in Miss Stenning’s ‘Respect Policy’ suggests she can’t handle any criticism.
Miss Stenning also recently deleted her Twitter/X account after the Birmingham Post reported the Ian Bostridge incident and a large majority of (polite) replies criticised her efforts to encouraging filming of concerts on phones.
I wonder why Miss Stenning has such a big problem with receiving feedback? It can’t be healthy for her.
Hi!
1: Emma prefers Ms Stenning not Miss Stenning. You must respect this and refrain from calling her Miss.
2: Emma welcomes Diverse Opinions. The Opinions on here come from 1 small section of Society. Haven’t you considered people who would prefer concerts with phones?
Why would ‘people’ prefer conveys with ‘phones?
So they can upload facile images on social media platforms in an attempt to boost their feelings of self importance on the virtual plane; rather than respect fellow audience members, the composer, and, above all, the performers?
TALKING the TALK
Sorry ‘I Support Emma’ this is just nonsense. And just to clarify, I do nor fit into your profiling of people who think that Ms S ‘s efforts are destructive and anti creativity in music. I’m not elderly, I don’t have grey hair, I’m not a man but I do passionately love music, believe it’s a basic human right to have access to music education and all the arts and believe it’s a basic human right to be free to enjoy a concert in peace without noise and distracting behaviour from your fellow concert goers. Apologies if this is offensive to you but Ms S’s initiatives at the CBSO are offensive to me.
You obviously love a wind-up. Happy trolling! We appreciate your humour.
“must respect”! What insulting and draconian language from a group and management who may be able to write “respect” but clearly do not understand the word!
Please STOP ordering us whom we must respect! You call her Emma, not her preferred title/appellation/whatever. If you showed a modicum of respect to your audience, the tenor of their contributions would quickly modify. Why are you so angry?
Such facile, kindergarten language. How can you commit to joy?
An excellent example of doublespeak; sinister and threatening, yet cloaked in saccharine platitudes.
The oft-repeated slogan ‘Respect and Joy’ is too close to ‘Strength through Joy’ (Kraft durch Freude). But few marketeers read History nowadays.
Rather too close to “Arbeit macht frei” 🙁
“Emma Stenning comes from the theatre world with zero concert experience”. I would not be happy for a theatre experience to be interrupted by ‘phones either. I really don’t get it; happy to be a dinosaur …
You’re deluded!
It’s great Emma is new to Classical Music. Why? Because she sees the problems with Fresh Eyes
People on here are stuck in the past and not Innovating
Emma often speaks about the Importance of Innovation and Relevance. She speaks about this in her Masterplan. I’m copying the First Part of it here because it’s so Important for you. People are being very negative instead of seeing it’s an Exciting Journey.
https://cbso.co.uk/stories/a-new-vision-for-the-cbso
Over the next 10 years, the CBSO will boldly join the conversation about what future orchestral concerts might become. 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.
(Emma)
I thought I Support Emma was a parody. But then I read Stenning’s official 10 year masterplan(!) and they seem as batsh*t crazy as each other.
I copied below some of my favourites from the Emma masterplan. She’s still asking for feedback:
information@cbso.co.uk
marketing@cbso.co.uk
Is I Support Emma just Emma herself without her marketing team to sort the grammar? She needs to be forced out and quickly.
“From brightening up the morning commute to inspiring audiences and musicians of the future, we make epic, powerful, meaningful music”
“We will collaborate and share creative opportunities and resources across the many communities in our diverse city, with the aim of driving real social change”
“The CBSO faces a number of immediate challenges, including … the lack of diversity within both performers and repertoire.”
“Explore with the orchestra, staff and audiences what a transformative orchestral concert might be like, and develop the skills necessary to achieve it.”
“Create 5-10 “show concerts” in a year with enhanced production values – designed for touring, festivals and repeat performances in future years.”
“will develop the pre- and post-concert experience in every venue, centring it around the audience and creating a joyful and welcoming environment. Using voices of the organisation (players, Kazuki, Emma etc.) for announcements.”
“We will commission a pre-show film (ideally mapped for Symphony Hall) which communicates the identity and character of the orchestra.”
“The removal of any perceived ‘rules’ of a traditional concert, clearly inviting audiences 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).”
“We will use theatrical and creative techniques including lighting, movement, staging, live video mix and elements of movement, to allow audiences to use their eyes as well as their ears, celebrating and showcasing the individuals on stage, enabling the audience to see who is playing what and to see the personalities within the orchestra.”
“We choose a revolution that centres music, people, and the connection between the two, in order to create joyful experiences for everyone.”
And generally disturb others. Great.
What’s next?
Encourage phone zombies to watch Tickety Tock during The Four Last Songs (without headphones?)
If the paying patrons agree, it will be a success, if not, it won’t and she’ll be gone.
Did you follow Charles Manson before working for the CBSO?
Sounds like Emma is the UK version of Alissa Heinerscheid in the US: decides that a new audience is needed for a product; creates own plan for bringing in new audience; and proceeds to crap on traditional audience.
If you haven’t kept up with the Bud Light saga in the US, here’s a hint: this grand scheme went very, very poorly.
Je suis Emma?
I suspect that those hilariously misplaced capital letters = sarcasm.
I don’t agree Jim C. I think they are due to grammatical ignorance!!
How on earth did she get appointed to the job?
For any job, applicants (usually) have to demonstrate some useful degree of previous relevant experience.
It seems now that the higher up the vacancy is in a hierarchy (and, accordingly, a pay scale), applicants may get the job solely by proving adherence to trend and fashion rather than substance of knowledge and experience?
Living overseas, I was fortunate to see on visits back to London a considerable number of National Theatre productions in the 1980s and 1990s before the policy of permitting drinks and ice cream in the theatre was introduced. The last I attended was ‘The Reporter’ in 2007 about the fate of the late and lamented suicide of that hugely talented BBC reporter James Mossman. Although in the small Cottesloe Theatre, I was quite literally appalled when many members of the audience brought in drinks and ice creams after the intermission. Anyone who suggests that the act of someone sitting next to you spurping a beer is not a detriment to concentration is talking through a hole in their head – and not their mouth! I would never attend any symphonic concert where this was permitted. Ms. Stemming should never have been appointed and the Board who did so requires some culling, in my view.
CBSO are doing Bruckner 9 in Emma’s upcoming ‘Season of Joy’. Thankfully without lasers (yet).
Their policy still says:
We are very happy for you to take photographs and short video clips at our concerts. Drinks purchased from the Symphony Hall bar can be taken into the hall.
At Saturday night concert in Cardiff an audience member with a very full glass of white wine was told he couldn’t take it into the concert only water allowed, sensible policy.
Well, given the Slipped Disc mob (if this indeed is more than just a couple of angry commenters), I’d be worried for my safety taking a drink into the hall. I’d rather going to a football match where I can drink what I want and do what I want with my phone without judgmental luddites around me.
You’re the Luddite: attending a footie match!
Not sure what club you attend where you can take drinks onto the terraces or into the stands, but I don’t know any where this is permitted. As for Luddites …..?
This is the LAPhil house rule, a good one, too. Along with the complimentary cough drops or throat lozenges or whatever they are. They are good about announcing before the starting gun goes off that electronic devices must be turned off, not so good about intervening with the ever-increasing rule-breakers.
You sound like an entitled old man.
What makes you think Everyone should bow down to you and do what you say? They belong at The Symphony Hall as much as you do!
This is one of the Action Points of the Community Board and Associates Emma created. CBSO need to appeal to Everyone instead of to niche groups.
If you want a dead Atmosphere you can Stream symphonies on Spotify in your house. Don’t be selfish and force other people at The Symphony Hall to do everything you want.
Thanks a lot for your support
What the hell is this Community Board? Who are they, what do they do and how much are they paid?
Community Board
The most diverse group you’ll never see in a classical music audience, with perhaps one or two exceptions, meet Rahman, Begum, Dar, Pemberton, Quereshi, Singh, Thompson and Ubhi.
https://cbso.co.uk/about-us/staff-trustees
Acting quietly and decently equals a niche group?
The “old men who enjoy listening to music in an appropriately reverent environment” club.
Snowflake Central.
Respect performers.
If you want to play on your ‘phone stay at home.
Don’t give her ideas or else she’ll invite Tom Morris to come over for an Anton x Tom laser collaboration…
There’s probably an AA meeting close by for those who can’t do without a drink for an hour or so…
Kazuki doesn’t and won’t speak up about Emma. Partly because Emma’s branding puts Kazuki firmly at the front of the orchestra a la Rattle.
Conductors are generally at the front of the orchestra.
If you think putting the music director at the front and centre of the organisation’s marketing is in any way a radical departure from the norm, I’m guessing you haven’t been to many concerts in Birmingham over the past 55 years.
Emma Stenning is stubborn and won’t budge.
Do you remember when Ian Bostridge stopped a concert because he was distracted by phones? What did Emma do?
She gave an interview to a newspaper sticking up for the phones because they can be used to read programme notes and criticised Bostridge for not knowing about her phone policy.
Tells you a lot about her priorities, criticising Ian to make herself look better
Ian caused a lot of trouble for Emma and Beki. Why shouldn’t they stand up for themselves?
There are many singers we can book in the future, Ian shouldn’t be making the story about himself
Folks, “I support Emma” is clearly satire. All these downvotes suggest someone (plenty, actually!) is missing the comedy.
What do you expect from a woman who can’t listen to music for 40 minutes without a drink in her hand?
What is her problem?
Is she too self entitled to understand how rude this is? To the audience and the orchestra?
Has nobody in her team told her how this comes across?
There HAVE been repetitions of the incident in Philadelphia.
Hush! You’re spoiling the narrative!
Yes, but they were precisely that: incidents. They were not encouraged “from the top”.
Emma’s going nowhere! She’s sticking to her Plan no matter what you think!
Then may she enjoy the denouement.
Until she is fired….
Sounds like a strong stubborn modern woman.
I’m sure this will turn out great.
Spot on.
Presumably there was a full house in Philadelphia whereas it would seem Birmingham gets more virtual opinions by way of Slipped Disc than bums on seats.
There was an great attendance at this Saturday’s brilliant performance of Madam Butterfly.
The CBSO, Kazuki Yamada, Soloists and Chorus all in fine form. Despite all the fuss there is nothing wrong with the music!
Four sold-out CBSO concerts in Birmingham in the past six weeks alone. You won’t ever read about them here.
The eternal classic, once again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uub0z8wJfhU
Yannick is right. He’s stopped concerts in Philly for protracted coughing as well. As a long-time subscriber, I stopped going to Philadelphia Orchestra concerts because of the phones, people having coughing fits, chatting with their friends, etc.
Philly is a rough & tumble town. I know that; I grew up here. We have some of the rudest, ill mannered audiences in the world.
But when attending concerts of the caliber of the Philadelphians, turn off the phones, stop the chatter with your seat mate & if you are beset with a protracted spell of coughing or feel compelled to hum along with the music, leave your seat & go out to the hall where the orchestra runs a live feed of the concert.
Let the rest of us to enjoy the concert in peace & let Yannick do the job he was hired to do – lead a world-class orchestra, not babysit.
It truly is a slow news summer when something as trivial as cell phones – which I bet every commenter here uses during concerts – is flogged to death for weeks on end here. I mean, enough already. The YNS story is old news and in the end, Philly basically made light of the whole incident, turning into a marketing campaign.
For EVERY concert I attend (whether a student lunchtime recital or a full evening concert involving a world-famous soloist), I remove the battery from my mobile telephone (the battery is easily removeable — for me, this has always been a non-negotiable criterion in selecting a telephone) on my way into the auditorium. The battery stays in my trouser pocket (so that I can pat it to check that it is not in the telephone) throughout the concert, going back into my telephone only on my way out of the auditorium during the interval (i.e.: if I stay in my seat during the interval, the battery stays in my pocket) and after the end of the last encore. It is a very simple, foolproof routine which guarantees that my mobile telephone NEVER disturbs a concert.
I don’t even own a cell phone and if I did, I would turn it off at a concert. But then, I was taught to have manners and respect my fellow humans.
1) if everyone’s phone is off, who’s going to take photos of Yannick in all his glory and post them on instagram?
2) along with a glass of wine, a sensible cheese-and-salami board, should be allowed, I would draw the line on crudités like carrots and celeries that make too much of a crunchy noise, but a good slice of blue cheese doesn’t make any noise at all
Do you really want to sit next to someone who’s eating during the adagio of Mahler
s 5th? Do you want to smell there food and listen to them chewing, or have to deal with them accidentally spilling food on you. A concert is not a restaurant.
As Slippedisc continues to highlight the CBSO situation, there have been quite a few posts by a person with the user name I Support Emma.
If that person’s posts are serious, then I find them frightening and discouraging as an omen for classical music in Birmingham.
But if, on the other hand, they are intended as satire, a parody of the reported gung-ho, shout-down-all-doubters, full-steam-ahead ethos of the Stenning administration, then they are almost perfect.
I really can’t tell.
Thanks for the Support 🙂
I’m a Real Person. I Advise the CBSO on how to become more Relevant and Impactful. Emma launched a Community Board and Associates who are paid to bring an outside angle.
https://cbso.co.uk/stories/a-new-vision-for-the-cbso
You can read Emma’s Masterplan here. It explains the Ambition and why it’s Important. It’s not controversial, it’s what Emma Wants.
I need to help her Achieve the Goals. My big Focus is to reduce the percentage of white people who see the CBSO. Currently that’s above 90% even though the white population in Birmingham is under 50%. We’re trying hard to open up CBSO to Everyone but sadly many of you complain instead of helping
Absolutely, you need fewer white people in Birmingham. I suggest that you get the trains running and ship them to camps for their wellbeing.
The fact that you think non-white people must be free to behave like pigs or low-grade morons, or that they need this in order to tolerate partaking of music in a concert hall, strongly indicates it is you who have a bigotry problem.
These entire threads about this phone/drink matter have long since devolved into classical music-lover parody. I mean, *everyone* takes a picture at some supposedly off-limits public event and I’m sure half of the commenters here would be pleased to sip a glass of wine or beer if one was offered at a concert.
Give that slipper another shake Rover – it’s still alive.
I’m disappointed that the satirist “I support Emma” doesn’t get at least a few thumbs-up. They are delightful in their socially-responsible trolling. Keep it up, whoever you are.
I totally agree. We need mobile free zones and an orchestral concert should be one. As a long time supporter of the CBSO I have written to say that I will not be buying another ticket until the mobile phone policy is changed.
You will be happy to know that the policy is now as it was when Stephen Maddocks was CEO. See Ian Hartland’s comment below. You can safely resume your concert going.
Not true!
I asked CBSO about this last week. They are sending people to their policy page. This still says:
We are very happy for you to take photographs and short video clips at our concerts. Drinks purchased from the Symphony Hall bar can be taken into the hall.
That’s what they want; fewer people like you, you know, people who go to concerts to listen to the music.
These threads have become 80% parody.
Oh wait, the season title really is ‘A Season of Joy’. Surely some mistake?
At least we get Weinberg 4.
But only 70 minutes total music in a concert? We need MORE joy (to make the trip worth the cost).
It’s not a mistake. Here is Miss Stenning’s branding:
Season of Joy
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.
https://cbso.co.uk/season
…who is the paying customer…
For those who missed my comment the other day, concerning the use of phones in concert according the Gospel of Saint Emma. According to one reader, “I Support Emma” is most likely a parody account which I truly agree with:
______________________________________
Jonathan King
June 28th 2024
The next time they perform the joyful Mahler 9th, I will be present in the audience with a drink in one hand and my phone in the other.
It shall be an honor to film those last few measures and immediately share the clip on my Facebook page.
Hope Emma will give me a “like”!
______________________________________________
I Support Emma
June 28, 2024
That’s amazing Jonathan! We want more people to Enhance concerts with drinks food and phones. It takes the total Concert Experience to a better level.
Can you tag our Social Media Team in your Mahler 9th Symphony Video? And if you come to anything else? We already Feature audience Content on our Channels.
Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Reply to “I Support Emma”
Jonathan King
June 28, 2024
Readers: beware of “I Support Emma”!
This person is (probably) Emma herself and has NO idea that my comment was sarcastic. They fell for the bait.
The response above proves that he or she knows NOTHING about Mahler’s 9th. Anyone else who knows the work would have reacted differently to my grotesque idea filming those final measures while drinking a pint. Either that, or he/she is pulling my leg.
Mahler is turning in his grave with such a dishonorable response above about the “Social Media Team” and “enhancing concerts with drinks, food and phones”.
It would be better to change the seasonal programming to suit the drinking and picture hungry crowds, rather than what she is doing now.
I pity the musicians who have to put up with this woman and her followers.
How about the CBSO plays Metallica? That should fill the seats.
Like most UK orchestras he CBSO regularly plays concerts of music by ABBA, Queen, AR Rahman and other pop artists. It’s a policy that was introduced over two decades ago by the previous CEO and it has been a huge success.
In Symphony Hall at Saturday night’s outstanding performance of Madam Butterfly, I saw the actual policy of the CBSO being enforced when a steward went and stood in front of an audience member who attempted to video during the performance. No other phones were visible from my seat in row S of the stalls, at any time during the concert. The policy is now very much as it was under Stephen Maddock – pictures can be taken, but only during breaks in the music or at the end of the performance.
The hall was full on stalls, circle and upper circle levels, with a substantial number of audience members in the grand tier which is not usually on sale. It was a night to remember which ended with a full standing ovation.
I asked CBSO about this last week. They are sending people to their policy page. This still says:
We are very happy for you to take photographs and short video clips at our concerts. Drinks purchased from the Symphony Hall bar can be taken into the hall.
A standing ovation?
Oh dear.
It means you only get to see the backside of the person in front of you, unless you gat to your feet yourself.
Standing ovations are part of the rot that leadings to taking in drinks and fiddling with your phone during the concert and chatting to your mates.
A stopped clock is right twice a day
I have said it before and I will say it again. The best place for mediocrities like this clown, is the church. That’s where all of them find their true level. Either that, or let her run the Post Office, where low-level intellect is a pre-requisite.
Her policy is sh..t and, to misquote Henry 11 vis a vis Becket….”will no-one rid us of this meddlesome priest”……I hope she realises I don’t mean Samuel B ( he has 2 t’s)
Don’t forget the American K-12 public school system. She’d fit right in there.
Beethoven 9 seems the obvious ‘joy’ start to the season.
Metamorphosen is before the interval. The blurb calls it ‘gorgeous’. Gorgeous.
A reflection on, maybe part apology for, Germany’s role in the second world war is thought to be gorgeous by the marketing people.
Clearly Richard Strauss was full of joy in his final years. Or maybe whoever wrote it thought it was another Straus(s).
Gorgeous indeed. Harumph.
“Clearly Richard Strauss was full of joy in his final years.”
Guessing you’ve never heard Strauss’s oboe concerto, Second Horn Concerto, Duett-Concertino or the two big symphonies for winds, dedicated “to the spirit of the divine Mozart at the end of a life full of thankfulness”.
Strauss’s wife Pauline de Anha gave him no peace. A true battle axe to the day he passed. He would go out for regular games of Faro to evade her rath.
1. Many concert venues employ cell phone jammers.
2. The audiences will still continue to drop phones, creating a big ruckus during pianissimo passages.
3. PSA announcements don’t work even bilingual. Need to insert leaflets in program books.
A million years ago, at a Minnesota Orchestra concert in Minneapolis, Sir Neville Marriner turned around between movements and said something like “For a state that had such healthy people, there is an awful lot of coughing. You might try cough drops or staying at home.” Those were the days.
It’s all part of the experience of attending live concerts. Who’d remember most of the notes played with or without the ringing phone nowadays ?
Mobile phones ringing during acoustic music performances are a menace. The sound is distracting and irritating. All audience members have paid for their tickets and their wish to enjoy the music should be respected. Our current obsession with this new and useful technology should not make us zombie-like techie addicts. Bah humbug!
I see that the greatest problem here is how to differentiate between Miss (Ms) Emma and her parody. Mission:Impossible. You cannot parody a parody.
Wow! How uncharacteristic for the overrated Maestro Woke!
These days Yannick’s latest morph allows him to represent the Lollipop kids. https://www.9news.com.au/world/munchkin-jerry-maren-wizard-of-oz-last-surviving-dies-aged-99/87455519-ffef-4359-a746-9c02a0da4924