Trouble is deepening at Korea’s two biggest orchestras ― the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the KBS Symphony Orchestra.
At the Seoul Philharmonic, the rebellion of employees against their boss last year led to a police raid of the orchestra’s office while its music director, Chung Myung-whun, faces a possible police investigation.
Over at the KBS Symphony Orchestra, which is on the brink of losing 70 percent of its musicians, the trouble has a more familiar cause. It’s about job security.
On Wednesday, police investigators searched the office of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, acting on a complaint filed by its former president Park Hyun-jung.
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| KBS Symphony Orchestra performs at the regular concert series on Jan. 24, 2014. (KBS Symphony Orchestra) |
Park, who quit the orchestra in December after being accused by her own staff of “inhumane” treatment of them, is apparently seeking revenge on her enemies in the ensemble, asking the police authorities to identify who sent an email to the media defaming her.
The anonymous email, which The Korea Herald also received, was a purported joint statement from 17 administrative staff of the SPO, detailing Park’s misconduct, including sexual harassment, and calling for her dismissal from the post.
Park, although she categorically denied the accusations of sexual abuse, admitted to having been too “tough” on incompetent employees. She also claimed that the orchestra’s music director may have been behind the accusations, because she had been at odds with the conductor who she said was running the orchestra as if it was his private organization.
“We were informed that the raid was related to a complaint filed by the former president and was intended to secure materials that may help establish the identification of the person who sent out to the email,” the SPO said through email.
Also on Wednesday, a group filed another complaint with police, asking the authorities to investigate Chung for embezzlement.
The move came after Chung took a media drubbing over the level of his pay and alleged misuse of air tickets and other perks.
Meanwhile, the labor dispute at the KBS Symphony Orchestra is escalating, with the management threatening to replace defiant musicians with new recruits.
Sixty-eight of the orchestra’s 100 musicians are refusing to sign a new contract with KBS Symphony and insist on remaining on the payroll of their current employer, KBS, the state-run broadcasting firm. KBS Symphony was spun off from KBS in September 2012.
The musicians had performed for the past 2 1/2 years on a special employee-dispatch arrangement between KBS and KBS Symphony, but that agreement was terminated Thursday.
Doubts over job security are the main reason why the musicians are refusing the transfer.
KBS Symphony, from its inception, has made it a rule that all players go through reevaluation every two years and those belonging to the bottom 3 percent may face dismissal.
“(If the players continue to resist the transfer,) we will put out a notice for new hiring on Monday,” an official at the orchestra said.
The orchestra is slated to perform a concert at Seoul Arts Center on March 27, with its music director Yoel Levi.
By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)
