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.
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