Ten thousand Hong Kong music-lovers appear to have been duped by a group of musicians masquerading as the famous Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO).
Near sell-out crowds packed a series of performances last month by what they thought was the famous Russian ensemble - but the 'real' MPO insists what they saw was a group of freelance Russian musicians.
Thousands of people paid up to $240 to attend the annual Midsummer Classics 2000 shows between August 7 and 13 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan town halls. But the real orchestra's principal guest conductor, Dimitri Yablonsky, said the MPO was playing in Europe at the time.
'It is a huge scandal in Moscow, very upsetting,' he said. 'It takes years to set up an orchestra, then some pick-up orchestra suddenly comes along and says they are the MPO. The MPO musicians still don't seem to know what happened - well they couldn't because they were on tour at the time.'
The orchestra's agents, Artistic Agency Sovinart (Moscow), also insisted it was not in Hong Kong for the concerts. Sovinart's general director, Eilina Tikhomirova, said the concerts were performed by an ad-hoc orchestra.
Yesterday, the Government's Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which promoted the concerts, said it had written to Wave Motion, the Hong Kong agents who booked the orchestra, seeking clarification.
The department also contacted Mak Ka-lok, the Hong Kong-born conductor who led this year's Midsummer Classics, for an explanation. It was Mr Mak who introduced the musicians to the department, said its senior manager (music), Linus Fung. She said he had promised a letter from the MPO confirming it had played here.