Courts Order Malta Philharmonic to Pay Conductor Brian Schembri €168,000

Judge Giovanni Grixti found that Schembri's 2017 dismissal was unfair and constituted a breach of contract

According to Malta Today, conductor Brian Schembri was awarded the sum of €168,000 after the courts found his dismissal from the Malta Philharmonic in 2017 unlawful.

Schembri was first employed by the orchestra in 2013 on a three-year contract, after which he was offered an extension. The contract stated that if Schembri's employment was terminated, the orchestra would pay out three years' worth of his salary.

However, after the initial contract renewal, Schembri alleged that the orchestra imposed a number of unfavorable amendments to the contract that diminished his role and responsibilities. He then tried to claim the three years of salary that he was owed.

In turn, the orchestra claimed that Schembri had in fact neglected his contractual duties by failing to show up for a concert on June 24, 2017. This forced the orchestra to pay for a substitute and resulted in reputational damage — including the withdrawal of sponsorship money.

The court ultimately ruled that the orchestra's after-the-fact alterations to Schembri's contract were unlawful. It also branded the defendant's claim of Schembri neglecting his duties as opportunistic since the orchestra only made this claim after realizing it was liable for the three years' salary.

"It is the opinion of this Court that after the original contract was automatically renewed for another three years, the defendant did everything to put the plaintiff in a position that he cannot honor his obligations, with such actions culminating in a concert, which the parties refer to as the Independence concert, where the actor tried to do his utmost to vary the program so that it could be done, despite the difficulties resulting from the company," said Judge Giovanni Grixti.

"This decision is an absurd contradiction with the general consensus that the unquestionable and notable artistic development that the orchestra has gone through these last few years was the direct result of my contribution," Schembri wrote upon his dismissal in 2017.

"I have never in my life been treated so basely and disrespectfully by persons in authority who were supposed to support me in the job they themselves engaged me to do, that is to develop the orchestra to the levels that, by common consent, were hardly imaginable before."