SINGAPORE – A concert, which was to take place at the National University of Singapore’s University Cultural Centre Hall, was abruptly cancelled on Tuesday (July 3), just one day before the scheduled performance date, leaving some 70 musicians in the lurch.

As part of the newly formed Star Philharmonic Orchestra, the musicians – some of whom had travelled to Singapore specially for the concert – were promised remuneration ranging from $400 to $500 for their performance and were slated to play alongside renowned flutist Jasmine Choi as the headline act.

An estimated 200 tickets had been sold for the Singapore concert, amounting to about $13,000 in total. It is not known how many tickets were sold for the Taiwan performance.

They were also scheduled to play at a second concert in Taiwan, and their travel arrangements and accommodation would be taken care of by the organiser, The Star Musicians, owned by Singaporean conductor Joey-Mendelssohn Chian.

TODAY understands that Chian had sent the group an email on Tuesday, informing them that the concert had been cancelled, citing “unforeseen circumstances”.

In another email, Mr Chian, 31, claimed that the company had exceeded the foreign worker quota set by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). He also forged a letter from the manpower agency notifying him of the offence and requesting that he pay a fine of $15,000 if he chose not to proceed with a hearing.

He allegedly also told some musicians the company had to be liquidated.

When contacted, MOM confirmed that the letter was a “fake document and the contents of the letter are false”.

“MOM has been alerted to a letter containing doubtful content bearing the state crest and MOM logo. The letter purportedly informed the employer of audit findings, employment breaches committed and rectification measures,” said the MOM spokesperson, adding that the agency takes a “serious view” of the matter.

“Given that the state crest and MOM logo have been misused for deceit, MOM has also lodged a police report separately,” the spokesperson said, and has also advised the caller to make a police report.   

The Star Philharmonic Orchestra’s website and social media sites have since been taken down. However, as of Friday (July 6), the company's record is still listed as active on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) website.

TODAY contacted Mr Chian but he declined to comment.

Several online biographies of Mr Chian indicate that he had spent eight years studying and training at the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, and has conducted orchestras across Europe such as the Vienna Young Artist Orchestra, Duna Symphony Orchestra (Budapest, Hungary), Kamerata Kronstadt (Brasov, Romania) and London Soloist Classics.

TIME WASTED

Mr Chian began recruiting musicians to be part of his Star Philharmonic Orchestra from as early as March last year. He enticed the musicians with promises of a chance to perform at a concert here, as well as a performance tour to Taiwan where they would play one show at the New Taipei City Multi-Purpose Auditorium on July 6.

The musicians who spoke to TODAY on condition of anonymity said they had signed up for the gig mainly out of goodwill, to lend support to a start-up orchestra.

In hindsight, the opportunity appeared “too good to be true”.

One musician who did not want to be named said: “Usually, you would arrange an (overseas) tour after the orchestra has played a few concerts. You hear how the orchestra sounds and how good it is… but from the get-go, all this was done.”

Looking back, another musician felt something amiss as “everything was done very inefficiently”. Up till the last moment, they had been “kept in the dark”, even with travel arrangements, for instance.

“A lot of us have pushed away other professional engagements, and the part that makes me the angriest is that we had wasted our time in these rehearsals,” lamented one musician.

The group is “collectively pursuing the matter” in hope of getting some answers as to what really happened.

TICKET HOLDERS DISAPPOINTED

For some long-time fans in Singapore and Taiwan who had been hoping to catch a glimpse of Ms Choi, the concert cancellation left many angered that no one was taking responsibility.
Taiwanese national Julian Pan, 35, academic manager of a language school, leapt at the chance of seeing one of his favourite musicians performing in Taiwan and bought two tickets priced at NT3,000 (S$134) each.

On July 4, Mr Pan spotted a notice on Facebook put up by the orchestra that the Singapore concert was cancelled, and despite leaving a message, there was no reply. He only learned about the Taiwan cancellation through Ms Choi’s social media post.

He was “disappointed and upset” as he had only bought the tickets to watch Ms Choi perform.

Mr Pan said: “The Star Philharmonic Orchestra vanished and there was total silence after they posted a public notice. There was no clarification or explanation whatsoever about the whole situation, not to the fans in Singapore, and they didn’t even apologise to the fans in Taiwan”.

Another fan of Ms Choi, Jay Ho, 23, was also excited to see Ms Choi in concert and decided to “treat” himself and bought a ticket priced at S$55 for the concert.

The full-time national servicemen had taken leave specially to watch her, and said it came as a blow to him when he received a text message on the day of the performance that the concert was cancelled with “no proper reason given”, and that refunds would take “one to two billing cycles”.

MOM advised employers and members of the public who receive any letter containing “doubtful content” bearing the MOM logo to check its authenticity with the ministry “without delay”.

“All official letters from MOM requesting payment will state that payment can only be made via the MOM website (www.mom.gov.sg) and SingPost outlets. Employers and members of the public should not make any payment other than through these two official channels,” said the spokesman.