The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra has been ordered to pay €168,431.96 to Mro Brian Schembri by a Civil Court.

According to the court, the payment must be made after the Malta Philharmonic terminated the conductor’s contract of service without a valid reason. Schembri was dismissed from his role as artistic director and principal conductor of the Malta Orchestra in 2017.

When he was terminated the conductor took to Facebook and said, “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.”

The conductor was employed in 2013 for three years and his contract was renewed in 2016. However, he was terminated in August 2017 after he refused to have his indefinite contract amended. According to the orchestra,  it wanted to change the terms and employ him on a four-year definite contract.

In court, Schembri argued that he assumed his contract had been automatically renewed after he was informed that the contract would be renewed for a further three years four days before the contract expired. However, the orchestra noted that the new contract was needed to regulate their working relationship and proposed amendments to the original contract.

Since then the Malta Philharmonic has experienced several controversies with its current Principal Conductor Sergey Smbatyan having been accused of fraud before being acquitted last year.