Just in: Orchestra goes on strike against conductor

Agency report: Ljubljana, 5 December – Members of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra will go on strike today to protest against the disrespectful and offensive attitude of director Damjan Damjanovič and conductor Uroš Lajovic (pictured).

We understand that the players want the conductor’s contract to be terminated with immediate effect.

We’d appreciate it if they told us why. UPDATE: Here’s why.

The Slovenian Philharmonic is a good orchestra in a town with a long tradition. Gustav Mahler had his first conducting post in Ljubljana, then known as Laibach.

UPDATE: Lajovic, 72, is a Slovenian who, according to his Wikipedia entry, ‘is considered to be one of the most successful European conductors of his generation’.

UPDATE2: Carlos Kleiber, whose wife was Slovene, conducted this orchestra on June 6, 1997.