Audiences should be more relaxed about mobile phone use, says BBC Proms boss

Debate over mobile phone usage at classical music recitals risks alienating new listeners, the boss of the BBC Proms has said.

Sam Jackson, also controller of BBC Radio 3, has encouraged seasoned classical music lovers to embrace a new audience of listeners who may use their smartphones, amid debate that the use of mobiles during these live fixtures can cheapen the moment and prove a distraction.

“Anything which makes them feel the Proms is welcoming to them is a good thing,” Mr Jackson said when asked by The Times about excessive phone use. “What I am not saying is that I want everyone to have their phones out. It is absolutely not that. But there is a real risk in the classical music world that we hold back from welcoming new people.”

While the “vast majority” of concertgoers were excited to “step out of the madness of the world [and] ­immerse themselves in great music … others choose to behave differently”, he added.

He pointed out that 40 per cent of people who bought tickets for the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall last year were under the age of 40.

“Sometimes it’s a bit like the perennial thing about clapping between movements,” he explained. “Sometimes somebody gets a phone out to take a photo. It’s because they have not been to a classical concert and they are from a world of rock and pop where that’s what you do. I think it should be celebrated that we have new people coming.”

Mr Jackson said he did not think phone use was a Proms problem: “We are not in the business of telling people exactly how they have to behave … I think like at any communal event, you pick up on the signs around you. If you are in a mosh pit, it is slightly different to watching Mahler.”

While certain concert halls and orchestras have relaxed smartphone rules over the years, debate over their place at live performances has been ongoing for more than a decade.

Olivier-winning actress Lesley Manville faced criticism earlier this month over concerns about photography during the curtain call in theatres, which she said was “insulting”.

Manville, currently starring in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre, urged people to “take the digital out of it for just a moment”.

“Come on, it’s theatre – let’s preserve it”, she said on Radio 4. “We are all in this room, we are telling you a story, you’re listening – clap or don’t clap, but don’t just stick your phone in our face. I find it insulting.”

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse suggested that for some audience members, taking a photo can commemorate a special experience if they are not regular theatregoers.

“I get her argument, but theatres nowadays is so expensive – if a family has travelled far and saved up every last bit of their money to come to the theatre to enjoy, and this is their first or very last time, that one picture will make their absolute life,” she said.

Classical tenor Ian Bostridge stopped mid-concert in 2024 after becoming distracted by the audience filming, after the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) he was performing with gave permission for the audience to take pictures.

"You're doing something that's very difficult and also you're trying to project a lot of emotion through music,” he said at the time. "We do have an issue with attracting new audiences, but I don't think this is the way to go.”

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