Musicians of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra have just passed a vote of no confidence in their management. ‘We no longer have faith in the abilities of our senior management to make decisions that are in the best interests of the company at large,’ they said in a letter.
The motion was connected to the cancelling, and de-cancelling, this week of a pianist who used the stage for making an anti-Israel statement that was seen by some MSO supporters as antisemitic. The handling of the issue was, by any measure, inept.
But the discontent goes way back. ‘Whilst this motion has been directly related to the events surrounding the cancellation this week, we see it as the culmination of years of unresolved concerns, ongoing mismanagement, and a consistent decline in workplace culture that has undermined the well-being of employees and the long-term success of the company. We no longer have faith in the abilities of our senior management to make decisions that are in the best interests of the company at large,’ the players said.
The MSO has taken down bios and images of its management team from the orchestra’s a=About page.
The managing director is a Canadian ex-flautist, Sophie Galaise (pictured).
In the job for the past eight years, she’s in a very hot seat right now. Today’s Australian Financial Review’s headline reads: ‘Everyone is angry at Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, even its musicians’
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