Orchestra chief is held in jail over evidence tampering charge

Orchestra chief is held in jail over evidence tampering charge

News

norman lebrecht

November 05, 2022

The Times of Malta reports that Malta Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Sigmund Mifsud has been charged with attempted tampering of evidence after employees were told to keep quiet about sexual harassment.

Charges of sexual harrassment have been brought against another orchestra official.

Prosecutors claim that Mifsud also tried to convince the victim to change her version of events. He denies the charge.

The CEO is being held in prison over the weekend after a bail request was refused by the judge.

Comments

  • Retired musician says:

    I wonder how come Mr. Ishkahnov or Smbatyan (Sr.) couldn’t fix that issue by a simple phone call.
    .
    Perhaps they need to commission another cheesy violin concerto to Alexey Sh… and pay Medici & Mezzo channels to broadcast it live next week (just to distract the media!)

  • CGDA says:

    Malta was so keen to get rid of the Brits only to give itself 60 years or so of self destruction caused by stellar levels of corruption that seem to have got only worse over time. From what I have heard, most of the top jobs in state entities have been filled by hyper mediocre loyalists linked to the Labour regime (of horrid Dominic Mintoff fame). This lot seems to have spent years winging it.

    To be fair, the Maltese orchestra is not the only to play Shor’s cra**y music. Many many major orchestras and musician do.

    This level of indiscrimination is alarming because it either means that either these ‘top’ musicians are simply technicians who do not understand music at all or that nowadays money is the only thing that counts in the music industry. We want artists not mercenaries! What were these and many others thinking?

    Andreas Ottensamer
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_mdn3lpRNo

    Maxim Vengerov
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYsMVejrFPI

    Salvatore Accardo
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvirNlmPnTo

    Celine Moinet
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDZKJ5iKwns

    https://alexeyshor.com/

    • WVWY says:

      money, of course

    • H. Wells says:

      You may have to ask Ishkhanov and Smbatyan (or his dad?) to explain this “phenomenon”. Ishkhanov’s European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC) has been very silent about this whole issue. Anti-russia sanctions collateral damage?

  • The Maltese Tremor says:

    MALTA LAND OF SLEAZE

    This is Malta – land of package holidays! Under the Labour government, this tacky island of burgers, chips, hot dogs and rubbish English-style food has become a land of sleaze (in every form) more than ever before. This lot is even worse than Mintoff’s bunch in the 70s and 80s which is an extraordinary achievement!

    The government tries to hide it with non-stop propaganda. Here is Joseph Calleja in a cringey advert!

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IYemzLc2p08

    So all this happened? Doesn’t this tell us a lot about the culture within the Malta Philharmonic? Were these cases the only thing that has ever gone wrong within the orchestra?

    Many of us lovers of the arts would also like to know where the money for the Malta Philharmonic’s lavish tours really comes from? This is an orchestra made up mainly of musicians who have not yet found jobs in European orchestras. It performs mainly local concerts in a country of less than half a million people. Goodness me…..those horrible pop/rock concerts with music often arranged by Z-rate local ‘arrangers’. How awful! I wonder why the orchestra commissions them (sarcastic and rhetorical question of course)?

    https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-philharmonic-orchestra-ceo-defends-russian-backer-saying-hes.940959

    Before Sigmund was appointed C.E.O. he was a second trumpet in this orchestra. Obviously, he would not have the level to be in any other decent European orchestra not because of lack of innate talent, but mainly because music education in Malta is total shambles and no one is interested in improving it save a few individuals who make a great contribution. The ministers there are a joke. Mediocrity galore everywhere!

    This government also splashes music on village bands which are atrociously bad (this is just a another populist operation).

    At one point, Sigmund Mifsud became a Labour Party candidate for which he delivered a short pre-election speech – an embarassing puerile pitch! He was not elected but was made C.E.O at the orchestra. Simply extraordinary!

    This is the story of Malta – a damned island where idiots, shady people, the lazy and the ultra mediocre are always the winners. The rest….it’s as if they don’t exist.

  • Sharon says:

    There are a lot of Maltese immigrants in the US. I didn’t know the economics of it. Thanks

  • Oligarch says:

    Follow the source… (Shor)

  • Save the MET says:

    Malta, like Monaco is a sunny place for shady people.

  • The Maltese Tremor says:

    MALTA LAND OF SLEAZE AND IMPUNITY

    The Labour ministers (these are a neo liberal bunch) denies covering up!!! Let’s see.

    For people to even be arraigned in Malta there must be hard evidence otherwise everything would be swept under the carpet.

    I wonder why the person who admitted sexual harassment got a suspended sentence and was granted anonymity whilst Sigmund Mifsud’s name is all over the media. How could one grant anonymity to a sexual harasser? And why has the orchestra only suspended him (unless there have been further developments)? Mind blowing!

    https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/orchestra-official-sexually-harassed-colleague-suspended-half-pay.991832

    https://newsbook.com.mt/en/malta-orchestra-officer-convicted-over-sexual-harassment-suspended/

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