Exclusive: More flee the Seoul Philharmonic

Exclusive: More flee the Seoul Philharmonic

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norman lebrecht

January 06, 2016

After the resignation of Myung Whun Chung as music director, under a hate campaign from a sacked CEO, more key personnel are leaving the orchestra before things turn really nasty.

A concertmaster, whom we have been asked not to name, has left the country without signing his contract.

And the orchestra’s artistic advisor, Michael Fine, has submitted his resignation. Michael, a former head of Deutsche Grammophon, secured the Philharmonic a 10-album contract and world tours with Maestro Chung. He was passionately committed to its success and held its musicians in great affection and respect.

All history now. The SPO is losing credit and people day by day.

michael fine chung

Comments

  • R says:

    They’ve got no soul.

  • Marcell says:

    “A concertmaster, whom we have been asked not to name.”

    How many concertmasters does a large orchestra employ? Perhaps wouldn’t be too hard to find out…

  • Itsjtime says:

    That is man incredibly xenophobic comment! Koreans have a lot of soul!

    • Mr Oakmount says:

      I think R meant to make an incredibly droll pun based on the English pronunciation of “Seoul”. It’s probably not supposed to be racist.

  • young says:

    Seoul doesn’t deserve to hold the top musicians.

    • Nick says:

      After the disastrous Ms. Park’s actions and outright vendetta, the top musicians in the orchestra will gradually move elsewhere. The SPO will return to being the 3rd rate ensemble it was before MWC took over.

      • Peter says:

        How is that possible with all the fantastic world class musicians from the Vienna University alone, who had to return to Korea because of their discrimination in Vienna and Europe? We are talking about decades of hundreds of 1st class students each year.
        There must be thousands of 1st class musicians in Korea just waiting for the chance to step in.

        (if you find irony you can keep it)

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