Since an outbreak last year of rowdyism in musical theatre, the question of how audiences should behave during live performances has been burrowing its way into the heart of the cultural establishment. It has now popped its head up in the classical music world, where it is not about sprayed beer and dancing in the aisles, but phone etiquette at concerts.
The debate was sparked when the tenor Ian Bostridge halted a recital in Birmingham because he was being distracted by people recording him. He later discovered that he was out of line with policy at the Symphony Hall, home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), which welcomed its audiences to take photographs and short video clips. The resulting set-to, with supporters deluging the orchestra with complaints about the policy, and its management promising to clarify and refine but not withdraw it, casts an interesting light on efforts to build new audiences in a sector that has been struggling to find its way in a straitened economy at a time of rapidly changing habits.
