The 2016 Proms Season: what are your thoughts?

[MrGongGong]

I'm prepared to be proved wrong, but I wouldn't say that any of them look like the kind of composers who would use a Proms commission to do something the like of which they'd never done before, which is no doubt one reason for selecting them. Now I should really get off this thread!

Looking forward to the all night La Monte Young
and the Ellen Fullman gig
and Diamanda Galas of course
and the Tony Conrad memorial concert
and

aaah well there's always Cafe Oto

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But you haven't heard them yet! While the track record of the composers of the new commissions might lead you to expect certain things might a surprise not be sprung?

Correct - but I have heard many works by the composers I've mentioned, and just as I was right in predicting that there wouldn't be any Ferneyhough, Lachenmann, Saunders, Barrett, Sciarrino, Cassidy, Bilone, Lang, Schubert (the other one) etc etc etc in this year's programme whilst hoping against experience that I'd be proven wrong, I also hope that I shall be wrong in my prediction about the New Commissions.

Time's Arrow was a damn good piece, I'm glad Payne's got another commission and have the highest hopes for his piece.

[Barbirollians]

Imagine that you're given an opportunity to travel in a Tardis back to King's Lynn in 1970 to hear Barbirolli conducting the Hallé in Elgar's First.
Now imagine that by a quirk in the Tardis controls, you end up with Maurice Handford conducting the Hallé in a Spohr Symphony instead.

There's nothing "objectionable" is there - a competent conductor, a decently composed orchestral work from the early Nineteenth Century, the same fine players - but it's not what you're hoping for.

If I had a tardis heading for that concert I suspect I would be bundling Sir John into it to get him to a 2016 state of the art heart unit or back in time to the day of his first cigarette . Point taken though.

[MrGongGong]

Imagine that you're given an opportunity to travel in a Tardis back to King's Lynn in 1970

You would definitely need to go here first though

http://www.farmingscout.com/company-egg-shop-in-kings-lynn-3975

I don't think you need a Tardis to visit the 1970's in parts of Norfolk though

[Beef Oven!]

You would definitely need to go here first though

http://www.farmingscout.com/company-egg-shop-in-kings-lynn-3975

I don't think you need a Tardis to visit the 1970's in parts of Norfolk though

Population 79,670. 12 different surnames.

[oddoneout]

http://www.farmingscout.com/company-egg-shop-in-kings-lynn-3975[/url]

Bit of influence from our cousins across the pond - " County - Peterborough" and "Parish - Norfolk"

[french frank]

Bit of influence from our cousins across the pond - " County - Peterborough" and "Parish - Norfolk"

To say nothing of "State - England"

[PhilipT]

Does anybody know how the pre booked Promming tickets will work?
How many will there be?
Will there be yet another different queue?
Booking fees?

Not really sure what the point is,although I suppose it will make travelling less of a gamble for those travelling some distance, which has some benefit.
if that is one of the reasons,it seems a bit counter intuitive to put them on sale that morning, when people in that situation might need to be on the move. the previous night would be more sensible.
Thoughts?

I'd be surprised if anyone here knew how this will work in practice. It's not the policy of the RAH management to consult with regular Prommers about changes to the rules. If they did that, they might discover in advance that they won't work, which would be intolerably embarrassing.

The booking fee is in the Guide as 2% + £1, so a total of £7.12 for one ticket or £25.48 for four.

The critical point, reading the Guide, is that people holding such tickets should join the end of the relevant Season Ticket queue. That makes sense. I get the impression that this is really aimed at reducing the pressure on those taking the money on the Day Queue doors at concerts like the CBeebies Proms, which often attract people who go to no other Prom, arrive in groups that include small children, and have difficulty with the concept of "Cash Only". Those concerts aren't terribly popular with Season Ticket holders, so the queue may be appreciably shorter than the Day queue.

The bit that these people are guaranteed entry only until the concert starts is certain to cause problems. Normally, once the 20 minutes deadline arrives, the Season Ticket doors are closed. Will these stay open, or will these people be expected to know that they should go to the Day Queue door? Probably the latter, but who will tell them that when they arrive at a locked door? There won't be a Steward there. A worse snag is that, after the 20 minute deadline, when Day queue people are admitted to take up places not claimed by Season Ticket holders, places will still need to be held for Online ticket holders who have not turned up - right up until the concert starts! If the Online ticket holders don't actually turn up there will be no time to admit more Day queue people, who will thus be denied places when there's room in the Hall. Nice one!

Also, I worry a bit about people who have bought such tickets for the second Prom of the day not understanding when they arrive that there are a couple of hundred people ahead of them in the queue that they can't see because they are currently in the Hall attending the first Prom. There's scope for arguments there, and I hope the Stewards will be briefed on this <hint! hint!>.

[Darkbloom]

I'd be surprised if anyone here knew how this will work in practice. It's not the policy of the RAH management to consult with regular Prommers about changes to the rules. If they did that, they might discover in advance that they won't work, which would be intolerably embarrassing.

When I first started going to the Proms - about 20 years ago now - there always used to be a bunch of older stewards that policed the queues with a rod of iron, and any pushers-in were hooked out in short order. I can still recall the steely glare of some of them as they patrolled the lines on the look-out for potential wrongdoing. These days things are much more lax, the stewards are mostly youngsters, and they rely on other people to report anybody who tries to jump the queue. I could imagine the old guard could have handled these changes competently enough, but I can imagine all sorts of arguments arising from people who get there (as you say) late and throw a hissy fit because they can't get in. It sounds like a money-making wheeze that hasn't been well thought out.

[vinteuil]

#188 and #189 above useful reminders.

Reminders to me as to why I do not enjoy the Proms.

In the words of Ernest Thesiger, describing his time in the trenches during the Great War - "Oh, my dear, the noise! and the people!"

[PhilipT]

For example (correct me if I'm wrong) not a single concert with any electronic music in it. In 2016!!!

OMD are at the RAH on Monday 9th May. Pity it's not a Prom ..

[teamsaint]

I'd be surprised if anyone here knew how this will work in practice. It's not the policy of the RAH management to consult with regular Prommers about changes to the rules. If they did that, they might discover in advance that they won't work, which would be intolerably embarrassing.

The booking fee is in the Guide as 2% + £1, so a total of £7.12 for one ticket or £25.48 for four.

The critical point, reading the Guide, is that people holding such tickets should join the end of the relevant Season Ticket queue. That makes sense. I get the impression that this is really aimed at reducing the pressure on those taking the money on the Day Queue doors at concerts like the CBeebies Proms, which often attract people who go to no other Prom, arrive in groups that include small children, and have difficulty with the concept of "Cash Only". Those concerts aren't terribly popular with Season Ticket holders, so the queue may be appreciably shorter than the Day queue.

The bit that these people are guaranteed entry only until the concert starts is certain to cause problems. Normally, once the 20 minutes deadline arrives, the Season Ticket doors are closed. Will these stay open, or will these people be expected to know that they should go to the Day Queue door? Probably the latter, but who will tell them that when they arrive at a locked door? There won't be a Steward there. A worse snag is that, after the 20 minute deadline, when Day queue people are admitted to take up places not claimed by Season Ticket holders, places will still need to be held for Online ticket holders who have not turned up - right up until the concert starts! If the Online ticket holders don't actually turn up there will be no time to admit more Day queue people, who will thus be denied places when there's room in the Hall. Nice one!

Also, I worry a bit about people who have bought such tickets for the second Prom of the day not understanding when they arrive that there are a couple of hundred people ahead of them in the queue that they can't see because they are currently in the Hall attending the first Prom. There's scope for arguments there, and I hope the Stewards will be briefed on this <hint! hint!>.

Thanks for this, PT.
I thought you would be on the case with this !!

I would hope that it will all work out, but there lots of potential pitfalls, which you seem to have comprehensively anticipated. I do think it will be good for those travelling some distance,who can be sure of getting in at least.

There is already a potential problem with those queuing for the later Proms, who can find themselves pushed down the Queue by attenders at the earlier concert, but I'm not aware that this causes issues. Perhaps it does on occasions.

[PhilipT]

There is already a potential problem with those queuing for the later Proms, who can find themselves pushed down the Queue by attenders at the earlier concert, but I'm not aware that this causes issues. Perhaps it does on occasions.

There's some history there. The current philosophy, which was always the view of regular Prommers and came to be accepted by RAH management, is that it is wrong to penalise those who are queuing for a later concert for attending an earlier one on the same day. This applies even if the earlier concert is at a different venue, such as Cadogan Hall. The critical year was 1993 - before then, the RAH signposted where queues were to form but otherwise did not involve themselves in their organisation. In 1993 the Hall took control of the queues, and then spent most of the season experimenting with different sets of rules. At at least one Prom that year - I think it may have been the Late Night concert by the Asko Ensemble (Varese Integrales, Ligeti Piano Concerto etc.) they let people specifically queuing for the second Prom only in ahead of those who went to both. That didn't last long.

[Beef Oven!]

Does anyone know where the Promming on-line booking guide can be viewed?

[teamsaint]

no idea