Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestra
Native name Orkestra Filharmonik Malaysia
Founded 1997
Location Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Concert hall Petronas Philharmonic Hall
Website MPO official website

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO; Malay: Orkestra Filharmonik Malaysia), founded in 1997, is the resident orchestra of the Petronas Philharmonic Hall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its orchestra members are made up of musicians from 25 countries.

Although the establishment of the orchestra is dedicated mainly for classical music from the wide range of repertoire, its versatility transcends music genre to ballad, pop, jazz, folk music and contemporary as well.[1]

Background

The MPO made its debut concert on 17 August 1998 under the direction of its first music director and founder, Kees Bakels. In July 2003, Bakels has announced that he would be stepping down due to health reason. In September 2003, the MPO appointed James Judd to succeed Bakels starting from 2004/2005 season. However, on 14 June 2004, the MPO via its press announcement confirmed that “all contractual relationship between MPO and Mr. Judd have ceased with effect from 7 April 2004”. The press announcement did not indicate any reason behind the termination of the contract. Due to the termination, Bakels has agreed to continue until the MPO has managed to find his replacement. Bakels holds the position until the end of 2004/2005 season and later, was honored with conductor laureate title by the MPO.[2][3]

In November 2004, Matthias Bamert was named the new MPO's music director to replace Bakels starting from August 2005.[4] Bamert served the MPO until the end of 2007/2008 season.

Claus Peter Flor succeeded Bamert as the MPO's music director starting from August 2008, with an initial contract of 3 years. Peter Flor served the MPO until the end of 2013/2014 season.[5] After Peter Flor left the MPO in 2014, the orchestra has no longer appointing any music director.

In the same year, Fabio Mechetti was appointed to replace Peter Flor as the MPO's principal conductor.[6] He served until the end of 2015/2016 season.

Noted guest performers

Since its inauguration in 1998, the orchestra has worked with many internationally acclaimed conductors, jazzists and classical musicians, among them are Lorin Maazel, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jiří Bělohlávek, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yehudi Menuhin, Vadim Repin, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., Chris Botti, José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Sumi Jo.[7][1]

Recordings

To date, the MPO has made 17 recordings under 3 labels.[8][9]

Released
date		 Composer:
Album title		 Conductor,
performer		 Label,
Catalog #
Jan 2001 Jean Sibelius, Aram Khachaturian:
Violin Concertos		 Kees Bakels,
Aaron Rosand		 Vox Classics,
Cat #: 7904
Feb 2002 Alexander Glazunov:
Violin Concerto, Meditation, Etc		 Kees Bakels,
Aaron Rosand		 Vox Classics,
Cat #: 7907
Aug 2002 Antonín Dvořák:
Music for cello and orchestra		 Kees Bakels,
Torleif Thedéen		 BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1276 CD
Jan 2003 Giuseppe Martucci:
Symphony No. 1 Op. 75 & Symphony No. 2 Op. 81		 Kees Bakels BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1255 CD
Aug 2003 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:
Scheherazade Op. 35		 Kees Bakels BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1377 CD
Sep 2004 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:
Capriccio Espagnol Op. 34		 Kees Bakels,
Noriko Ogawa		 BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1387 CD
Apr 2005 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:
Symphony No. 1 & Symphony No. 3 Op. 32		 Kees Bakels BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1477 CD
Feb 2006 Édouard Lalo:
Orchestral Works		 Kees Bakels,
Torleif Thedéen		 BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1296 CD
Apr 2006 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:
The Snow Maiden		 Kees Bakels BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1577 CD
Jul 2007 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:
Orchestral Works		 Kees Bakels,
Noriko Ogawa		 BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1667 CD
Jun 2009 Josef Suk:
Asrael Symphony		 Claus Peter Flor BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1776 SACD
Dec 2010 Bedrich Smetana:
Má vlast		 Claus Peter Flor BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1805 SACD
Aug 2011 Vasily Kalinnikov:
The Two Symphonies		 Kees Bakels BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1155 CD
Mar 2012 Antonín Dvořák:
Symphony No.7		 Claus Peter Flor BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1896 SACD
Jul 2012 Antonín Dvořák:
Symphony No.8		 Claus Peter Flor BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1976 SACD
Oct 2012 Antonín Dvořák:
Symphony No.9		 Claus Peter Flor BIS,
Cat #: BIS-1856 SACD
Sep 2017 Carl Davis:
Aladdin: The ballet		 Carl Davis Carl Davis Collection,
Cat #: 29

Controversies

During Peter Flor tenure, he oversaw the controversial "sacking" of nine musicians. The case led to a call from the International Federation of Musicians to boycott auditions for the orchestra.[10]. These musicians are on fixed-term contract which expired on 15 August 2012. Prior to August 2012, the MPO sent notices to the affected musicians to officially notify that their contracts will not be renewed. Seven out of the nine musicians who received the non-renewal notices have filed a legal suit against the MPO at the Malaysian Industrial Court, challenging their former employer’s decision not to extend their contracts. The musicians are Toko Inomoto (violist), Brian C. Larson (violinist), Paul Andrew Philbert (timpanist), Darcey Layne Timmerman (percussionist), Kevin Hugh Thompson (trombonist), Markus Gunderman (violinist) and Liu Jian (violinist).[11]

In 2015, Malaysian Industrial Court threw out their dismissal suit cited that the musicians’ fixed term contracts had naturally expired, and therefore, the MPO had not even needed to dismiss them. The court added, the case is not considered sacking or dismissal but merely not extending the expired contract which is common in any industries.[12][13]

On a separate case, in May 2014, the Malaysian Industrial Court had ordered the MPO to pay the fine of US$147,000 for the dismissal of its former General Manager, Kim Sargeant in 2006.[14]

Current appointment

Naohisa Furusawa succeeded the leading post as the resident conductor replacing Mechetti in August 2016. He has been the member of double bass section for this orchestra since January 2003.[15]

Anna Reszniak is the last violinist holding the position of concertmaster for this orchestra. She left MPO at the end of 2013/2014 season to join Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra for the same position. Until today, the MPO has not hired a replacement to fill-in the vacancy. From 2014/2015 season, the role is being carried out by the assistant concertmaster, Peter Daniš.[16][17]

Music directors / conductors

  • Kees Bakels (1998–2005) Music Director / Principal conductor
  • Matthias Bamert (2005–2008) Music Director / Principal conductor
  • Claus Peter Flor (2008–2014) Music Director / Principal conductor
  • Fabio Mechetti (2014–2016) Principal conductor
  • Ciarán McAuley (2014–2016) Resident conductor
  • Naohisa Furusawa (2016–) Resident conductor

See also

References

  1. 1 2 ""MPO – About us"". MPO site. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Michael Markowitz (25 September 2003). "James Judd Named Malaysian Philharmonic's Music Director". andante.com (overall site now defunct). Archived from the original on 17 May 2004. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  3. ↑ Matthew Westphal (2 August 2004). "James Judd's Contract with Malaysian Philharmonic Terminated". andante.com (overall site now defunct). Archived from the original on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  4. ↑ “Appointment of Matthias Bamert". Playbill site. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  5. ↑ “Peter Flor profile". IMG Artists site. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  6. ↑ “Appointment of Fabio Mechetti". MPO Season Brochure 2014/2015. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  7. ↑ “The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra". Naxos.com site. Retrieved 2 August 2018
  8. ↑ “Malaysian Philharmonic recordings with BIS". BIS website. Retrieved 2 July 2018
  9. ↑ “Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra recordings". Arkivmusic.com site. Retrieved 2 July 2018
  10. ↑ “Boycott Malaysian Philharmonic audition". Firm-musicians.org. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  11. ↑ “Criticisms on MPO, baseless" The mole.com site. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  12. ↑ “Seven expatriate musicians lose unfair dismissal suit" The StarOnline site. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  13. ↑ "Court: No reason needed to end expat musicians' contract" The StarOnline. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  14. ↑ “Kim Sargeant vs MPO verdict". Archived of Malaysian law site. Retrieved 3 August 2018
  15. ↑ “MPO resident conductor". MPO site. Retrieved 2 August 2018
  16. ↑ “List of Musicians". MPO site. Retrieved 2 August 2018
  17. ↑ “Anna Reszniak profile". Anna Reszniak website. Retrieved 2 August 2018
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