Orchestra invites audience to use their phones during concert

Devon Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) will be bucking the trend by inviting audience members to use their mobile phones during their next concert on Saturday 27 April.

The orchestra is harnessing the power of technology to help people connect with the music during the performance.

Mobile phones in classical music concerts have been in the news recently when tenor Ian Bostridge stopped a performance to ask audience members to stop using their phones because of the distraction.

The DPO hopes their experiment will be a much more positive one for audience and orchestra. One of the pieces is Elgar’s ‘Falstaff’ which relates the story of Shakespeare’s hapless character through music. 

To help keep track of the story during the concert, the audience are invited to use their mobile phones to follow a series of slides, explaining in real time which part of the tale the music is reflecting.

Trumpet player Brian Moore came up with the idea during a rehearsal. He realised how much more interesting the music became as Music Director Benjamin Voce pointed out moments in the story while he was conducting.

Brian Moore said:
“Just for a change, you’ll be encouraged to leave your mobile phones on in a concert, and to follow the story! We don’t usually encourage the audience to use their phones during a concert. In fact, there’s an announcement at the start of every performance asking people to turn their mobiles off. But this time, we’re doing a bit of an experiment – we want to see whether we can use the technology to help people connect with the story. It won’t be for everyone, and we’ve done all we can to make sure that the phones aren’t annoying for audience members who would rather just sit and listen to the music.

“Elgar’s ‘Falstaff’ is a great piece, and we want to help the audience enjoy it. We’re also playing Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ overture, with one of the best love themes ever written, and Ravel’s ‘Daphnis et Chloé’ which has definitely the best musical sunrise ever written.”

Audience members will scan a QR code in advance or on arrival at the Cathedral. This will link to a series of slides with text produced by Benjamin Voce to explain what is happening each time the music changes. The use of phones will be encouraged just for one piece during the programme, and people will be asked for feedback at the end so that the orchestra can decide if the experiment has been a success.

The Devon Philharmonic Orchestra concert is at Exeter Cathedral at 7.30 pm on Saturday 27 April. Tickets are available online and on the door.