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rowanlim
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 Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject: The MPO Scam |
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This is a sad post for me & I hope that it's not true, I received this in an email & I guess I wanted to share with y'all 
| Quote: | Much as we like to encourage appreciation of Western Music in Malaysia why is it that Petronas sees it fit to finance the 'Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra' which is a misnomer because 95% of its 105 musicians are foreign and mainly European. Each musician is paid between RM 16,000- RM28,000 per month. They are given 2 months paid holiday and working conditions which are second to none in the world.
They have not one but 3 European conductors ! The Chief Conductor is paid RM130,000 per month and the Associate Conductor gets paid RM 50,000 per month. The total Monthly budget for this orchestra is RM3.5 million.
The Malaysian Conductor Ooi Chean See resigned because it
was widely known she was being undermined and not allowed to develop in her career. During her time with the orchestra, her concert scehdule decreased gradually to the point she was doing only a couple 'Children's Concerts' per year.
The orchestra has been in existence for 10 years now and the total amount spent on this orchestra has been a staggering RM 500 million.
Yes, Petronas does not have money for bridges for Malaysians but it has money to splash on foreign musicians. Petronas does not
appear to have real desire to train or give opportunity to locals musicians.
They promised to set up an Academy of Music to train local musicians with the tutors drawn from the orchestra but this sadly has not materialised.
Since its inception, the Malaysian Philharmonic orchestra has not increased its Malaysian participation which still stands at a
shameful 4%. They have cosmetic programs like 'outreach' to supposedly
encourage the love of western classical music to local Malaysians but these are essentially self-serving publicity stunts. Even the newly formed 'Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra' is a publicity stunt with no serious commitment to develop Malaysian talent. It is poorly organised and its musicians meet about twice a year only! The previous founding CEO of the orchestra Mr Hamid Abu Bakar was clueless about music and left the artistic decisions to IMG, an international music agency who have successfully milked Petronas for tens of millions of dollars.
The current CEO Juniwati Hussin is a chemist by training and is a slight
improvement because she does actually attend the concerts and is not averse to learning to appreciate western classical music. But the overall artistic planning and direction in controlled by the Europeans who
have a vested interest telling Petronas that there is no talent in Malaysia and the ignorant management of Petronas are happy to maintain the status quo. It would appear that they prefer foreign participation in this
'Malaysian Orchestra' then to have Malaysians. What a pathetic mindset.
I hope issues like this will be brought up in parliament.
Why can't Petronas train local musicians, provide scholarships for locals to
study abroad if need be, and then employ them in the orchestra. In a matter of a few years we can have an orchestra consisting of Malaysians true to the name Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and good enough to rival the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.There is an abundance of talent in Malaysia. The sad fact is, Malaysian talent is usually recognised overseas. |
I know some of these to be true...especially about the pay as well as the low number of Malaysian performers in the MPO...feel free to discuss what you think here...I'm still going to watch their shows anyhow...
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Last edited by rowanlim on Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:31 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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radin87
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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yes.. i think it's about time for the petronas to change their mind set and try to get a local Malaysians into the MPO. Its a waste that our money is running out of the country.
Like you said, there are many talent in Malaysia in the music industries. They should have get the local talent by now. Are the current MPO members still more superior than the local talent? |
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ash
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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Yea i noticed this too... Sigh~~ So that's the story... But yea this 's Msia what... Local musicians shall be alive...if the government would be more supportive! Sad sad sad~~~ 
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Kelvin
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | There is an abundance of talent in Malaysia. The sad fact is, Malaysian talent is usually recognised overseas. |
I agree with this. Not only in music, but in many things.
haih... i hope i can join MPO, or maybe MPYO, but i seen so difficult... 
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rowanlim
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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It's true, I noticed the Malaysian conductor, Datuk Ooi was quite prominent when the MPO began but in the latest season booklet, true enough, she was managing Children's Concerts. Oh dear...how sad...I would think that at least the Petronas Performing Arts Group is pretty Malaysian...What a shame...I'm sure we have many talented Malaysian musicians, I've heard of some of them going overseas to study at prestigious music schools like at the Juilliard School 
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flutiste1026
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject: Wat da..~~~ |
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If this is the story, those people are really pathetic. How come they didnt realize that they are actually terminating the musicians of Malaysia. Musicians from msia are actually not given a chance to express themselves in a higher level...if only they're given more time and support from them authorities, the foreign musicians wont simply judge msians musicians like that.
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ash
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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I just remembered this...If you look at the other side, MPYO is still a chance to build local musicians! If the government more alert on this, it would turn out to be really great!
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rowanlim
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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True. Previously they had the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra International Composers' Award, it was a competition for young, budding Malaysian composers to display new contemporary works. I'm not sure if they had any this year, but IMO, it's more like a publicity stunt...
If you check the site here, you'll notice, sadly, that there's not much in the "Outreach" program...Not much to go on, I did try to contact them to organize a masterclass, but no response as yet... 
As for the MPYO, it's certainly a great start but there's not much exposure, if I'm not mistaken. Ash is right, it could certainly help to develop Malaysian talents...
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stnthaha
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| Kelvin wrote: | | Quote: | | There is an abundance of talent in Malaysia. The sad fact is, Malaysian talent is usually recognised overseas. |
I agree with this. Not only in music, but in many things.
haih... i hope i can join MPO, or maybe MPYO, but i seen so difficult... |
y piano is nvr part of orchestra...???
even though i agree w tat article....but honest i love watchin those foreigner playin music....they r lik --- more into it.....
hehe it's better if they r da pretty n handsome 1....  |
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Kelvin
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| stnthaha wrote: | y piano is nvr part of orchestra...???
even though i agree w tat article....but honest i love watchin those foreigner playin music....they r lik --- more into it.....
hehe it's better if they r da pretty n handsome 1.... |
Aiyoh... where got better if they are pretty and handsome?
You go MPO and look at handsome guy mea?
I know it's nicer to listen to those foreign musicians playing, but i think at the same time Malaysians also had to be trained, so that one day Malaysians musicians can reach up the standard.
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�I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure�����try to please everybody.�
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stnthaha
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 3:40 am Post subject: |
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it's better 2 c wen got leng chai n leng lui ma...kekeke
lik da cellist tat day 
but honestly speakin...foreigner reli do play better music i tink.....they played s if their soul is in it..... |
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ash
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:08 am Post subject: |
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stnthaha... i think u dont get it huh... ermm... are u happy if Msia keep on being like this...relying on foreign musician and no growing actually in the industry by OURSELVES? will u satisfy if Msia spend sooo much money to hire those musician from outside? Its actually a stupid way...Just to make Msia looks great in front of others...but actually its just empty inside! Why not use the money paid out to do more things for improvement of our locals leh?
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Last edited by ash on Tue May 06, 2008 6:37 am; edited 1 time in total |
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rowanlim
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:26 am Post subject: |
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^Sounds like the Angkasawan deal
I would really like for them to change their stance...to be extreme, this is a form of neo-colonization. The Western implanting their influence on our local music scene...Another thing is I rarely heard of government orchestras...seems to be very quiet...
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stnthaha
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:04 am Post subject: |
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i did mention...i do agree w da article statement
jz tat....i myself somehow prefer 2 c foreigner playin music....
no offence ash... |
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rowanlim
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:14 am Post subject: |
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^That's your opinion, I respect that. Me just thinks it's a shame...I'm still going to watch MPO, though, there's no way I'm going to boycott it...but I'm not going to feel proud of it
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