I HAVE been a supporter of music in Scotland since my schooldays in the 1940s.
Since the formation of the brilliant BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra my musical enjoyment has been greatly enhanced.
However, over recent years the booking facilities for this orchestra’s seasons have been reduced to the impossibly frustrating. I can no longer choose my preferred seat online or book in person at the box office. I now have to deal with a two-part booking form which unless I am a returning season ticket holder, gives me virtually no opportunity to choose a specific seat apart from marking a vague area with a cross. This has to be mailed.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) season can be booked online, as can the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) season. I can book the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London, online for the 2019-2020 now.
I cannot understand why the Scottish "branch" cannot provide this facility. It should be well within the bounds of modern technology to book online. In my many years’ experience of opera, film and theatre going, it has been a delight in this modern era to book easily via the internet. I find that the BBC SSO seems to be the only major organisation that operates with the methods of a bygone age.
I have already booked my SCO season and I am considering transferring my loyalties from BBC SSO to the RSNO. I am too old to mess about.
I have noticed that concerts are frequently apparently undersold. Could this perhaps be due to the complications of the booking system?
After all, user friendliness is so important to any organisation depending on its public for support.
Priscilla Barlow,
Rysland Crescent, Newton Mearns.
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