‘Lights down, phones off’, says Edinburgh festival director Nicola Benedetti

25 June 2026, 10:39

Edinburgh International Festival bans phones after they interrupted every single concert in its 2025 chamber series.

Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) has officially asked audiences to turn their phones off during performances at its 2026 edition, after mobile devices interrupted every single concert in the festival’s Queen’s Hall chamber series in 2025.

A statement released by EIF shared frustration from both artists and audiences, highlighting not just the disruption caused to other audience members, but also to the “thousands more people” impacted when concerts that are recorded for radio broadcast also feature alarms and ringtones.

Star violinist Nicola Benedetti, who became the festival’s first ever Scottish and female director in 2022, explained: “Live performance is unlike anything else, and the Edinburgh International Festival is here to protect the rarity of this experience.

“The power of our programme is intensified by the tangible, collective presence of everyone in the room, and we want you to be with us fully.”

Read more: Nicola Benedetti has ‘strong feelings’ on mobile phones at classical concerts

Nicola Benedetti has ‘strong feelings’ on phones at classical concerts

Benedetti continued: “When the lights go down and the performance starts, we would like phones to disappear from our hands, minds and ears.

“The late, great Alfred Brendel said it best: ‘The audience’s contribution is concentration and silence–it’s an electricity the musician can charge from.’

“The electricity is real, I’ve felt it from the stage my whole life. We encourage our audiences to switch off their phones, and let the art do the rest.”

Edinburgh International Festival clarified that audiences are welcome to take photos to share on social media before and after the performance, as well as during the interval, but that phones should be switched off or fully silenced during the performance itself.

The new rule will apply across all EIF performances, in all venues, apart from select exempt events, such as free drop-in outdoor performances, or dementia-friendly concerts.

Read more: A phone rang during Hayato Sumino’s pin-drop Royal Albert Hall solo – and he duetted with it...

Speaking to Classic FM presenter Ritula Shah ahead of the 2024 edition of the Edinburgh International Festival, Benedetti shared her thoughts on phones at concerts: “I have very mixed feelings about it–but also very strong feelings about it!

“On the one hand, one of my pet hates is seeing within a concert hall, members of the staff, ushers, running around telling people to ‘stop this, stop that, shush, put that down’.

It can be a very off-putting experience when you’re told off in a place that you’ve paid for a ticket, and you’ve gone to have a beautiful evening, and you’re getting told what to do and what not to do. I think also the act of that can be 10 times more distracting for everybody around than whatever that person was doing in the first place.

“At the same time, I think it is so unique to have 2,000 people not on devices, sitting, listening and paying attention to something collectively. I think it’s so rare in today’s environment and I would like to encourage more of that.”