Hong Kong Concert Strikes a Sour Note

Hong Kong is a city of fakes ?€” fake Swiss watches, fake French couture and now perhaps a fake Russian orchestra.

While the Symphonic Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society was on tour in Europe last month, a group of freelancers representing the same orchestra performed a series of concerts in the Chinese enclave, earning thousands of dollars and winning good reviews.

The musicians, who included six members of the proper orchestra, played in Hong Kong from Aug. 7 to Aug. 13. But it was not until the South China Daily Post broke the story of the "fake orchestra" on Sept. 1 that Hong Kong culture authorities learned that they and almost 10,000 people who paid up to $31 for a ticket may have been duped.

Delora Sim, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong?€™s Leisure and Cultural Services Department, said in a telephone interview that they are now "seeking clarifications."

She said her department has yet to decide whether to sue Chinese-born conductor Mak Ka-lok and the Hong Kong-based Wave Motion agency, which organized the concerts for her department. It has requested a list of the orchestra?€™s musicians from Wave Motion, but has not yet received it.

The Hong Kong culture authority has also sought clarifications from conductor Mak, who conducts the Philharmonic Orchestra in the central Russian city of Voronezh.

Reached by telephone Wednesday, Mak, who is an Austrian citizen, declined to comment, citing his poor knowledge of Russian and English. He referred questions to his associate, Moscow composer Leonid Gofman.

Gofman said the Moscow Philarmonic Society has three orchestras, including the Symphonic Orchestra, and while this renowned orchestra was touring Europe in August, some of its musicians went to Hong Kong along with freelancers. The tour had chief conductor Yury Simonov?€™s personal consent, according to Gofman.

The administration and musicians of the Moscow Philharmonic Society were on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

The Philharmonic Society?€™s agent, Sovinart, said it had nothing to do with the Hong Kong tour, although six members of the orchestra took part. Elina Tikhomirova, Sovinart general director, said the orchestra was performing at the time in France, Spain and Portugal under the baton of guest Dmitry Yablonsky.

What has become a scandal in Hong Kong is nothing unusual in the musical circles of Moscow, a city of rich classical music tradition with two conservatories producing scores of professional musicians every year. Struggling to make ends meet, these musicians often form makeshift orchestras in a matter of days for recordings at home or tours abroad.

With foreign tours serving as the main income for musicians in Moscow?€™s more than one dozen symphony orchestras, freelance work, known as khaltura, is a vital necessity. Word about a potential job spreads rapidly among musicians, and freelancers are hired to complement absent staff for concerts at home and abroad. Managers in orchestras and musical theaters, unable to pay regular high salaries at home, are often willing to accommodate their musicians?€™ trips with other groups.

"It is a typical situation," said Anna Sokolova, a violinist who graduated this year from the Moscow Conservatory and has already played as a freelancer in several acclaimed Russian orchestras.

"Most likely, the managers received two tour proposals simultaneously and decided not to miss out on the money, both for themselves and for the musicians. It is done in a simple way: Part of the musicians go here and part goes there, and freelancers are hired to supplement them, so it is good for everybody. This time around, it seems, someone found out what they should not have found out," Sokolova commented.

Even Tikhomirova, who maintains that the Honk Kong tour is "quite scandalous," acknowledged that such tours have happened before. But this is the first time a group has tried to pass as the Symphonic Orchestra of the Moscow Philarmonic Society, she said.