A complaint to Emma Stenning gets you this - Slippedisc (2024)

Maria says:

That’s disgraceful behaviour from her. These people with their clicking cameras and videos disturbing a live concert. Please let’s see the threatening email your friend got.

Tiredofitall says:

If her behavior devolves to any sort of threat against paying audience members who rightfully expect to enjoy a performance without disturbance from others, then Ms. Stenning is done. Over. Such vindictive behavior is sick.

Tim Walton says:

This was me.

Here is the email I got from her.

Hello Tim,

Several of my team have reported to me, both on Saturday evening and this morning, that you were aggressive and abusive towards our photographer, Andrew Fox, who was employed by the orchestra to take pictures of the concert.

Andrew is an extremely experienced photographer, who regularly shoots at Symphony Hall for both us and other organisations. I know him to be highly professional, and deeply respectful of only disturbing those around him to a minimal degree. Andrew reports that he has never before been subject to such behaviour from an audience member, and I must add that I too have never experienced a performance photographer being treated in this unacceptable way.

I must refer you to our respect policy, which is on our website here: https://cbso.co.uk/terms-conditions/respect-policy

If you have an issue with any aspect of our work at the CBSO, I ask that you raise it with myself, Beki or the relevant member of the Senior Management Team in a respectful and calm manner.

Your consistent failure to do this is now a matter of note for us, and I ask that you give the nature of your future approaches to our staff some thoughtful consideration.

Best wishes,

Emma.

The only person I have ever spoken to about these problems is Emma – I had a personal meeting with her & yes, I was blunt in my opinion!

I have never had any reason to complain about any other member of the CBSO staff. The only member of staff who is causing a problem is Emma.

This is the reply I sent to Madam Emma. Needless to say, I never got a reply.

Emma,

I’m sorry about that, but he was sitting on the floor within 3 feet of me and his camera was continually clicking, which was distracting.

I said – Stop clicking and move. That is all.

My brother-in-law is a professional photographer and his equipment cost tens of thousands. His camera doesn’t make clicking noises every time he takes a photo so there is no reason why your photographer can’t use a silent camera and then he wouldn’t annoy anyone.

Sorry, but the paying audience is more important than anything else.

It won’t happen again as long as he brings a silent camera, after all, Berlioz didn’t include a clicking camera in his score, and neither did any other composer, as far as I am aware!

(Corrected by me due to a spelling mistake!)

Vikings have no horns on helmets says:

Is that tracing of the subscribers contact details compliant with the CBSO policy on GDPR? It doesn’t appear so after reading my work’s policy. It may with a complaint to the ICO (information commissioner office I think) sorry I’ve got chemo brain at mo. Anyway ICO are found on Google and they do respond on queries and will investigate. If the CEO is having meetings with them, she won’t have time to meddle with the music, especially if she has to find the money for a fine.

Maria says:

Yes, she is! Otherwise this would not have errupted on here or in Birmingham. See how many buy and crunch their popcorn at the Proms since it’s now on sale at the Albert Hall.

Garry Humphreys says:

Yeah, How did she get appointed in the first place? What was her ‘story’? Or was she in fact what the powers-that-be were really looking for? Was there a probationary period before the appointment was confirmed? What do the trustees (chairman Tony Hall) really think? I think we should be told!

bored muso says:

Well said DK!
Ms Stenning is out of control as a CEO, and should resign before she is pushed and destroy this fine band any further.
She has already brought the CBSO into disrepute internationally by her silly and unecessary tampering by an amateur theatrical intent on trying to bring a new younger audience to hear classical music concerts.
She has become the laughing stock of the orchestral management world and needs to go – asap before she does any more serious damage.

Pippin’s Post says:

She treats us very well, thank you.
I don’t know who you are, but you really do spout an awful lot of nonsense.

OPTG says:

You keep talking about respect yet say nothing about Emma ‘I need a drink in a concert’ Stenning!

Looks like the only respect that matters to you is bowing down to Emma, who cares about respecting the music or the players?

Herbie G says:

Respect and Joy, is this verbatim from the so-called Respectful Behaviour Policy, or all your own work? Whoever wrote it might benefit from a GCSE in English, which would provide instruction on the appropriate use of uppercase and lowercase letters. Then, your bovine excrement would at least look like literate bovine excrement.

In any case, which other orchestra’s or ensemble’s CEO finds it necessary to issue such policies to its audiences and threatens them?

I am assuming that you are not Emma Stenning under a pseudonym; if not, the real Emma Stenning seems not to have the bottle to enter the fray on SD; maybe she has consumed too many bottles herself during the concerts.

Disgusted says:

When you attack Emma and the Management Team you are NOT attacking the orchestra players too.

Players are not the CEO nor are they “management” – what kind of idiot would believe this kind of blanket nonsense???

Don Ciccio says:

“L’Orchestre, c’est moi!” – Emma Stenning.

yaron says:

This is the voice of trouth comming from the PRC.

Herbie G says:

Yes Andrew, she’s like Stalin without his warm-hearted humanity.

Couperin says:

I don’t believe you are who you say you are. Incidentally, it’s interesting how well trained some hidden conservatives are. I’ve noticed it lately, the talking point about “black people don’t need stuff to be dumbed down”.. is the latest right wing strategy to combat any policy they feel is “woke”. Verbal jiu jitsu.

lucas says:

I happily second that motion.

Emma, the trap door is underneath you.

Please, go back to counting paperclips or whatever it is people do at your level of staggering incompetence.

Herbie G says:

You are welcome, Emma.

Philipp Lord Chandos says:

You cannot serve all interests and social groups of Birmingham with one modern symphony orchestra, no matter how many drinks and smart phones you allow.

If your aim is to please the masses you should better organise pop music events or football matches.

operacentric says:

And maybe some of that other Diverse Population of Birmingham (whatever the capital letters mean) has no interest in attending symphony orchestra concerts.

As long as everyone has the same access to classical music, those who do enjoy and appreciate it will attend, and pay.

If you alienate your core audience, by not allowing them to concentrate on the music because of extraneous distractions, you will lose them and, with them, your primary source of income.

You will not build a larger, alternative paying audience unless you change your product to something totally outside the symphony orchestra experience which appeals to those who don’t like classical music – which, to be frank, is unlikely to be achievable.

Vikings have no horns on helmets says:

I’m not a member of the population of Birmingham. I visit Birmingham to engage with the music events in the city. I therefore put outside money into Birmingham’s economy. This fiasco of a CEO doesn’t just mean the organisation which they serve is now a laughing stock , but that people who would have travelled to attend performances now chose to attend performances elsewhere, with all the associated loss of income into the city. The CBSO is part of the international music provision. It’s reputation for its music is keeping it there, whilst the negative press re the CEO is merely encouraging audiences to have a joyful evening in a more welcoming organisation. Audiences vote with their feet, clap with their hands and cheer with their voices. The CEO appears to only want an empty hall. That makes them a janitor, not a CEO.

Pippin’s Post says:

Well this simply isn’t true. If you were in the orchestra you would know that.

Edoardo says:

Why not going on strike for six months or till she is gone?

Armchair Bard says:

“stumbled out” . . .

This and one or two other remarks concerning Stenning’s concert habits & conduct are really quite suggestive. Though of what I had better not say.

IC225 says:

If she was actually at a CBSO Centre concert in the first place, that is more than her predecessor ever achieved.

norman lebrecht says:

If you try to raise them with the CBSO, this pro forma letter is what you get.

anon says:

seems to me like this is the all too common case of a bully who has realized she can use the language of social justice to shut down criticism.

operacentric says:

It helps but it also helps if they have a sound head for business and finance.

La plus belle voix says:

And where is the petition to get her out of post? Come on somebody, please start one online. It would gain thousands of signatures surely.