This letter is doing the rounds online from conductor Anton Lubchenko to members of the St. Petersburg Governor’s Symphony Orchestra.
You may find it horrific, sadistic and misanthropic. Russian musicians tell us that’s how things are in many orchestras these days.
They say the fish stinks from the head. And maybe it was drunk when it wrote the letter.
More about Lubchenko below, but first the letter:
Good evening, friends from the brass section.
Following yesterday’s and today’s concerts, I have decided to offer you to do without bonuses before the vacation.
I cannot fire all of you (although I would like to), but paying you a bonus equal to your salary is entirely my goodwill, not my obligation.
I’m sure the director will be delighted with such savings.
I understand that not all of you are jerks, and there are some very professional musicians whom I even appreciate (sometimes).
But the problem with the brass section is that you are not really a group. Everyone is out for themselves.
Idiotic lineups are put together for rehearsals and concerts, someone covers for someone else who is off work, someone else covers for them and allows it without my consent, random people are called in to fill in.
This is for the director. For a quick buck. If you have forgotten that I am still the director here, I will be happy to remind you. And reminding you with money is the simplest, most pleasant, and, most importantly, the most effective way.
Maybe then something will change in your attitude toward your profession. Perhaps you will be more careful in selecting personnel, conducting group rehearsals, preparing for programs, etc.
I have already given separate personnel orders to Fialkovsky and Antares regarding the trumpet section, and they will be implemented immediately.
And if there is even one more concert like yesterday and today while I am still here, I will also implement my idea regarding bonuses for the rest of the brass section.
It’s like in war or in the army: if one person screws up, the whole platoon suffers.
If you don’t like it, you can quit tomorrow. Let me remind you that I don’t care much for any of you.
Good evening.
AL
Lubchenko, 40, worked at the Mariinsky Theatre under Gergiev and guest-conducted in Toronto, Beijing, Linz, Leipzig and Meiningen. Up to 2016, he was artistic director and principal conductor of the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2017, he was sentenced to two years’ probation for abuse of office. He is still getting conducting dates in Germany.
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