Change conductor - should audiences be told and given a chance if a refund/exchange ?

[Barbirollians]

I am in Birmingham - with the rail strike I have driven and booked a hotel . I came to see CBSO in Mahler 2 with MGT .

I received an E-mail from CBSO last week advising me that the Panufnik songs that were to open the concert would not be played . Ah well I thought , when I walked into Symphony Hall I was surprised to see so many empty seats as it looked pretty packed out when I booked.

I opened the digital programme to find that MGT is pregnant ( many congrats to her ) and would not be conducting and had been replaced by Markus Stenz .

I think this is seriously out of order from the CBSO not to tell customers that the conductor had changed . With all due respect to Mr Stenz who I saw once when he was a guest conductor with Halle - he is not a conductor who I would have trekked to Birmingham to see and I think the CBSO clearly should have informed customers . Some seem to have already known and voted with their feet .

I should like to say I was pleasantly surprised . I wasn’t - the playing was terrific , the soloists excellent, the offstage band very good and the choral singing magnificent . The interpretation however until the finale I found cool and mannered with lots of exaggerated point making in the second movement and a rather dull first movement . Very annoying .

[RichardB]

I opened the digital programme to find that MGT is pregnant ( many congrats to her ) and would not be conducting

They really ought to have contacted the people who bought tickets, I mean it's not as if she suddenly became pregnant from one day to the next, well literally she did of course, but the orchestra surely must have known about it for a while. I don't know anything about Markus Stenz but it's bad form not to inform everyone in advance.

[Keith]

I am in Birmingham - with the rail strike I have driven and booked a hotel . I came to see CBSO in Mahler 2 with MGT .

I received an E-mail from CBSO last week advising me that the Panufnik songs that were to open the concert would not be played . Ah well I thought , when I walked into Symphony Hall I was surprised to see so many empty seats as it looked pretty packed out when I booked.

I opened the digital programme to find that MGT is pregnant ( many congrats to her ) and would not be conducting and had been replaced by Markus Stenz .

I think this is seriously out of order from the CBSO not to tell customers that the conductor had changed . With all due respect to Mr Stenz who I saw once when he was a guest conductor with Halle - he is not a conductor who I would have trekked to Birmingham to see and I think the CBSO clearly should have informed customers . Some seem to have already known and voted with their feet .

I should like to say I was pleasantly surprised . I wasn’t - the playing was terrific , the soloists excellent, the offstage band very good and the choral singing magnificent . The interpretation however until the finale I found cool and mannered with lots of exaggerated point making in the second movement and a rather dull first movement . Very annoying .

I had tickets for Saturday's concert- I doubt I will be able to get there because of the strike. I got an e-mail telling me about the change of conductor on the 27th January. I am sorry you didn't.

[Petrushka]

I am in Birmingham - with the rail strike I have driven and booked a hotel . I came to see CBSO in Mahler 2 with MGT .

I received an E-mail from CBSO last week advising me that the Panufnik songs that were to open the concert would not be played . Ah well I thought , when I walked into Symphony Hall I was surprised to see so many empty seats as it looked pretty packed out when I booked.

I opened the digital programme to find that MGT is pregnant ( many congrats to her ) and would not be conducting and had been replaced by Markus Stenz .

I think this is seriously out of order from the CBSO not to tell customers that the conductor had changed . With all due respect to Mr Stenz who I saw once when he was a guest conductor with Halle - he is not a conductor who I would have trekked to Birmingham to see and I think the CBSO clearly should have informed customers . Some seem to have already known and voted with their feet .

I should like to say I was pleasantly surprised . I wasn’t - the playing was terrific , the soloists excellent, the offstage band very good and the choral singing magnificent . The interpretation however until the finale I found cool and mannered with lots of exaggerated point making in the second movement and a rather dull first movement . Very annoying .

This appeared in Norman Lebrecht's blog on January 27 and makes reference to the news being communicated to its audiences with what seems to read as the e-mail sent out.

https://slippedisc.com/2022/01/just-in-mirga-pregnant-cancels-summer-dates/

Perhaps the message ended up in your junk folder as it is standard practise nowadays to advise tickets buyers of any change.

It was all so different back in the day when you could turn up at the Festival Hall, Barbican etc after a long journey to discover that the promised conductor/soloist was sick and you either had to put up with it or go home.

I remember travelling down to London in 1980 for a LPO/Solti Bruckner 5 only to find the dreaded poster in the RFH foyer saying that Solti was ill and his place had been taken by Jesus Lopez-Cobos. In addition, the programme had been changed to Mozart PC 25 (forget who the soloist was) and Bruckner 7. I turned tail and headed straight back to the train station and home.

Things can sometimes work out very well. Another LPO Bruckner evening, this time the 8th, was to have been conducted by Eugen Jochum but he'd phoned in sick and his place was taken by Klaus Tennstedt. Classy substitution!

[Barbirollians]

No I have received nothing from the CBSO and when I booked she was still announced as the conductor . I did once go to a concert in which Midori was replaced by Kyung Wha Chung !

[Barbirollians]

No I have received nothing from the CBSO and when I booked she was still announced as the conductor . I did once go to a concert in which Midori was replaced by Kyung Wha Chung !

In fact I am more furious - I booked through their website in early Feb when she was still stated on there as the conductor !

[gurnemanz]

A visit to my wife's family in Leipzig a while ago happened to coincide with a performance of Strauss Four Last Songs at the Gewandhaus with Jessye Norman and Kurt Masur. My mother-in-law booked tickets well in advance. To our great dismay it was announced that due to Masur's indisposition the concert was cancelled. We heard that Masur was not keen on a replacement taking over, even if one could be found. I think most people with tickets would have accepted any stand-in, in order to hear Jessye N perform. I never did get to hear her live.

[Old Grumpy]

In fact I am more furious - I booked through their website in early Feb when she was still stated on there as the conductor !

Complaint in order stating the facts and dates revealed in this thread? Could also perhaps include a comment on your disappointment with the interpretation and suggest a full refund of the ticket cost.

I am not one to complain normally, but it is said that is a very English trait!

[french frank]

Sounds as if it might have been an administrative error/oversight, rather than a lack of concern. Barbs may have fallen between a gap just after they sent out the emails, but before they'd remembered to change the website? But still worth a complaint.

Complaint in order stating the facts and dates revealed in this thread? Could also perhaps include a comment on your disappointment with the interpretation and suggest a full refund of the ticket cost.

I am not one to complain normally, but it is said that is a very English trait!

[richardfinegold]

I was supposed to see Pamel Frank soloing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Dvorak Concerto. She was replaced at the last moment (this was 25 years or so ago) by James Ehnes whom I had never heard of. He was outstanding and as a bonus he was sitting in the box next to ours for the second half of the concert and I got to chat with him for a few minutes.

[Sir Velo]

Depends on the orchestra: if it's the VPO, it won't make a blind jot of difference to the performance who the conductor is!

[Nick Armstrong]

I received an E-mail from CBSO last week advising me that the Panufnik songs that were to open the concert would not be played

I’d have been furious too, if that email made no mention of the change in conductor.

I would definitely send a complaint, if not for a refund then at least so they get their act together for others in future

[Alison]

Full sympathy for Barbs. Settling down to a concert through gritted teeth makes for a dispiriting evening.

It’s a shame that the Mirga era at CBSO has not come to full fruition in the way many might have imagined.

[Historian]

Stephen Maddock (a contributor on this forum, or did I imagine that?) runs a tight ship so I am surprised at the CBSO failure on this occasion. I know a refund won't repay the time/effort/disappointment but it would be better than nothing.

[Dave2002]

I am not one to complain normally, but it is said that is a very English trait!

Complaining is only really effective if expressed to appropriate people - and I guess also if the targetted recipients are willing and able to respond in a useful and helpful way. There was a joke about aircraft. "How do you know that the plane which has landed has come from England? The whining continues after the engines have been switched off!".

Sometimes, of course the recipients are secondary targets - perhaps not able to do much themselves, but able to make suggestions, or help to focus complaints in a constructive way, or to put more pressure on those who are able to change their behaviour or offer apologies or compensation. I doubt that in the current circumstances [pulling out of Covid] many arts organisations are going to happily refund disgruntled customers, though they may follow our PM and offer apologies - perhaps more sincerely.