An Italian trumpeter who was hired to play with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco (JPO) stood up in a congressional committee this week to accuse Canadian musical director Marco Parisotto and the orchestra’s administrators of deceiving him and other musicians.
Emanuele Casieri interrupted a session of the state legislature’s culture committee to voice his anger over what he called the “bullying” tactics of JPO director and administrators.
The public outburst came on the heels of a recommendation issued last week by the State Human Rights Commission that cites Parisotto and the JPO administration for “discrimination” against 17 musicians, based on “their nationality” and calling for “reparation of damages.”
Casieri told the legislators that he is one of around 35 musicians – many of them foreigners – who in 2015 were offered five-year contracts, good salaries and benefits to play with the JPO. The Italian said he liked the city and was preparing to bring over his family to live here, for which he was promised $US3,000 assistance.
After many of the musicians realized that these promises were not being honored and there were no contracts to sign, they hired a lawyer to clarify their legal situation, Casieri said.
Casieri said the musicians were subsequently told by the JPO administration that their services were no longer required. Many then signed documents agreeing to leave the orchestra, although Casieri said he and a few others refused.
A group of 17 aggrieved musicians then joined forces and took their case to the State Human Rights Commission, demanding an investigation into the running of the orchestra, including probes into allegedly obscure payments made to invited musicians, conductors and Parisotto, as well as clarification on the ambiguous immigration status of the foreigners.
Arturo Gomez Poulat, the JPO’s administrative director, suggested the rights commission recommendation contained many inaccuracies but promised it would be reviewed with the seriousness it deserves. The commission grants a ten-day period for a response.
Gomez Poulat said the situation regarding the dismissed musicians “goes back a long way” and that the task of creating the “best orchestra in Mexico and Latin America” was never going to be a smooth process.
Responding to Casieri’s outburst this week, Gomez Poulat said musicians – Mexican and foreign – who joined the orchestra in 2015 after a restructuring of the recruitment process were fully aware that they were being hired on a six-month trial basis and that no full contracts would be signed before this time had elapsed.
Gomez Poulat said he hoped the latest controversy surrounding the orchestra would not dishearten Parisotto, whom he called “an extraordinary director.”
Significantly, the rights commission recommendation includes a paragraph stating that it does “not seek to discredit (Parisotto’s) artistic quality,” nor harm his “national or international prestige.”
Asked by reporters this week whether she still supported Parisotto, Jalisco Culture Secretary Myriam Vachez would not comment, although she cannot be happy that she has been drawn into the controversy. Although Vachez was named in the preliminary complaint filed to the commission, her name did not appear in the final recommendation. She is also facing flak from other artistic groups, who say she is “deaf” to their suggestions on how to improve the cultural landscape in Jalisco.