The concertmaster wants his brother hired as principal second

The concertmaster wants his brother hired as principal second

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

October 24, 2023

Matters at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra have not improved greatly since they sacked most of the foreign players and earned themselves an international boycott.

Since then, music directors have come and gone and the atmosphere in the orchestra has only worsened.

A complaint made by one of the musicians to the Petronas oil company which governs the orchestra reveals that, in the absence of a music director, the Slovak concertmaster Peter Danis ‘seems to be taking on roles and responsibilities that traditionally belong to a music director’. In particular, he is backing his brother Miro Danis to join the orchestra, preferably as principal second violin.

Akiko Danis, Peter Danis’s wife, has been given a full-time contract as a pianist, even though the orchestra’s slim schedule does not justify a fulltime pianist.

The complaint has been logged by Petronas under reference number WB563_2023(1706).

We’ll let you know if the complaint is progressed.

Comments

  • Jacob S. says:

    This Orchestra is such a disscrace !! Shame on Petronas for such a horrible leadership.

  • Boleh says:

    The only audition Mr Danis won in Malaysian Phil was for tutti violin. He failed numerous auditions for promotions afterwards, and somehow failed all the way to being appointed Concertmaster by management with no input from colleagues. Quite an achievement!

  • Exmpo says:

    Nothing of this is new or surprising. At least since the end of 2010, this once fabulous orchestra was/is on a path of decay.
    It would be wrong to say that the local management has no idea about classical music or how to run an orchestra. For many years they did quite ok.
    It’s rather the higher management and Petronas don’t want to keep a professional and expensive orchestra with foreign professional musicians anymore.
    There is no music director or qualified artistic advisor; so if some shady characters exploit this situation for personal benefits, it is in fact very Malaysian. Look at the corruption rating of the country and you will find out this is just normal.
    Mr. Danis amazingly was able to scheme his way up from Tutti to concertmaster without any auditions. Why shouldn’t this be possible for his brother?
    Surprising is that someone actually filed a complaint. More surprising if Petronas would act on it…

    • Jmama says:

      He did audition for Bamert, who appointed him.

      • Jdada says:

        Bamert appointed him to what position? Not CM. He auditioned for CM after Flor left and did not pass the first round.

        • Jdaddy says:

          There are people who refuse undeserved promotions, some accept them and prove themselves through their ability or commitment to being a respected leader, and others take them and exploit the situation. Mr. Slovak CM here, in this case, took the last route.

          The ironic thing is that he actually isn’t the best player in the remaining violinists from the old days…perhaps closer to first if we look from the other end, with the other slovak being ahead of him.

  • WB says:

    What if it gets escalated to breach of CoBe Part III section 5? Is it cheaper to help the wife to get a job first? Are they willing to cover his ass on this one?

  • Rimsky-Korsakov parody says:

    Is he going to survive the Scheherazade? audiences and members reports back please? more in common with the shipwreck than the Sultan probably.

  • Guest says:

    I guess it’s a moot point—Miroslav was rejected by the committee.

  • WB says:

    It might be a moot point now, or perhaps it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There could be chat logs and photos out there implicating him in something more sinister even his wife doesn’t know about, for whom he had an entirely different plan.

    The management is covering his ass on this because they are partly guilty, and the whistleblower of Petronas also appears to be compromised. Would they be willing to cover his ass on this one?

    • Maurice G says:

      Chat logs and photos are often just veiled threats unless there’s hard evidence to support them, so they shouldn’t be taken seriously without verification

    • Pippy says:

      I agree with Maurice, perhaps there are no such pictures or videos. If there were, the victim would have made herself or perhaps himself known by now, I digress. Please stop with the accusations. Either WB is the victim herself or some scorned lover perhaps by now, ex-lover

  • Jim says:

    Have not been seeing him in the recent concert in MPO, does anyone knows the reason behind it?

    • Hometown critic says:

      Interesting observation, I’ve noticed that since the beginning of the season. The orchestra sounds unaffected, the girls up front seem to be doing a great job. Having said that, the string is awfully weak in the Tchaikovsky fifth.

    • Hello says:

      He broke his finger, that’s why he’s not playing. Could be out for a little while until he fully recovers.

  • Sir Bows A Lot says:

    Yakuza style, is it? Lost a few fingers in some ‘domestic negotiations,’ perhaps? Well, that’s one way to settle things. Then, out of nowhere, up come nine downvotes—can’t let insignificance go unchallenged, clearly. And as for the violin playing… let’s just say, even with all fingers intact, it didn’t quite hit the mark. Plus someone please give him a GPS to not get lost every few bars.

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