Kyung Wha Chung and coughing fit

[vinteuil]

It could be Very tricky when child prodigy performers start misbehaving.

... that young Mozart feller was a real pain.

[muzzer]

I blame the parents. I fidgeted through college concerts my Dad was conducting when I was a child and whilst subliminally might have got some of the music it was only ok in the context of there being lots of other people's family members there. To take small children to big concerts in town is just an ego trip imho. To say nothing of the cost.

[JFLL]

I think coughers are much more considerate than they used to be, on the whole. I've just received the Testament CDs of the Toscanini Brahms concerts at the RFH in 1952, and the coughing's appalling. (Not to mention the firecrackers in the last movement of Sym 4, rumoured to have been let off by Klemperer fans!) On the other hand in November 1952 maybe London was suffering under a pea-souper.

[P. G. Tipps]

I blame the parents. I fidgeted through college concerts my Dad was conducting when I was a child and whilst subliminally might have got some of the music it was only ok in the context of there being lots of other people's family members there. To take small children to big concerts in town is just an ego trip imho. To say nothing of the cost.

So do I ... I remember giggling like hell with my siblings when we were occasionally dragged along to see our father play the viola in an amateur orchestra. I don't think he'd have dared to take us to a professional event!

As for needless coughing, adults are the worst, in my experience. If parents are in control, most bored kiddies just tend to slouch back in their seats and sulk.

[visualnickmos]

This whole issue is very straightforward. Quite simply, it should be made plain that children are welcome to the concert, but, if they become disruptive, through no fault of their own ie, coughing, feeling uncomfortable, needing the toilet, or whatever, the parent(s) MUST take the child out of the auditorium. The same goes for kids who are fundamentally naughty little brats at even the best of times. If it results in the parent(s) and/or child missing the rest of the concert, so be it. It's the risk parents run by taking the kid there in the first place. So often these days in the UK, it seems that the no-parent world is expected to make allowances for those who are parents, which is quite wrong. If you have kids, you have to put up with possible disadvantages. You can't have it both ways. One or the other - you decide.

As a PS - here in France, if adults make extraneous noises, the audiences members around, immediately make their collective annoyance felt in no uncertain terms, and the noisy offender is soon shamed into belting up - or leaving, as I have myself witnessed.

[pastoralguy]

This whole issue is very straightforward. Quite simply, it should be made plain that children are welcome to the concert, but, if they become disruptive, through no fault of their own ie, coughing, feeling uncomfortable, needing the toilet, or whatever, the parent(s) MUST take the child out of the auditorium. The same goes for kids who are fundamentally naughty little brats at even the best of times. If it results in the parent(s) and/or child missing the rest of the concert, so be it. It's the risk parents run by taking the kid there in the first place. So often these days in the UK, it seems that the no-parent world is expected to make allowances for those who are parents, which is quite wrong. If you have kids, you have to put up with possible disadvantages. You can't have it both ways. One or the other - you decide.

As a PS - here in France, if adults make extraneous noises, the audiences members around, immediately make their collective annoyance felt in no uncertain terms, and the noisy offender is soon shamed into belting up - or leaving, as I have myself witnessed.

Well said, Sir.

[Lento]

I thought this article (by someone who was present) had an interesting point of view:

http://www.thestrad.com/cpt-latests/media-condemn-kyung-wha-chung-reaction-coughing-audience/

[visualnickmos]

I thought this article (by someone who was present) had an interesting point of view:

http://www.thestrad.com/cpt-latests/...hing-audience/

It did - and a completely valid one, at that.