A Saturday concert in which a youth orchestra replaced the Brazil Symphony Orchestra, half of whose players were fired, was abandoned wothout a note being played when the conductor Roberto Minczuk was greeted with audience boos and applause.
A member of the youth orchestra then read a statement saying they refused to play in place of the dismissed musicians. The microphones were cut off, silencing his speech.
Full report here in O Globo (in Portuguese, with Google translate).
Earlier, the secretary of the British Musicians Union, John Smith, who is also president of the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) said his members would offer all support to the sacked Brazilians. Report here.
Minczuk is due to to conduct in Liverpool next month and to audition musicians in London. He may find the session unattended.
The situation at the OSB appears to be degenerating by the day into chaos.
