Korča String Orchestra, problems with contracts/ Conductor: We want a salary increase

2024-03-06 12:36:00, Qyteti im CNA

Kor?a String Orchestra, problems with contracts/ Conductor: We want a salary

Conductor Kostika Tanto

Conductor Kostika Tanto has made a reaction to the non-renewal of the contract for some of the instrumentalists of the Korca String Orchestra.

According to him, the artists requested an increase in payment at the end of last year, refusing to be included in the Symphony Orchestra until receiving an answer, while at the beginning of this year, the contracts of half of them were not renewed.

Out of 18 members of the String Orchestra in Korça, 9 of them are no longer part of this formation. The leader of the Orchestra, Kostika Tanto, says that for this year, the contract was not renewed for 9 of them.

"The reason for coming before you is that a part of the String Orchestra that I have been directing for 8 years has been left out of the 2024 contract. Why have we been left out of this information? I am making a very short chronology, in November we sent a letter to the municipality for a payment request and as of today we still have no answer. In December they called us to be members of a new formation as a Symphony Orchestra and we did not accept, as our requests had not been answered. Which caused everyone to leave.

Kor?a String Orchestra, problems with contracts/ Conductor: We want a salary

In January, some go to this orchestra, while 9 people from the String Orchestra do not go yet. We ask for clarification of this contract because we have very strong signals that more than half of the String Orchestra is made up of orchestrators who work at Radio Television in Tirana. It is an insult to us Korcharians that we do not participate, and they do. As for myself, I am quite unclear about my position, even though I have been leading this band for 8 years, and the conductor of the orchestra, as far as I know, is a resident who lives in Lamia.

The orchestra has 18 members, and 9 of them are abroad. These 9 have higher education. We asked for clarifications and they were not given to us, we asked for the list of the String Orchestra and they did not give it to us. The first payment has been made. Our payment was 60,000 ALL, now it is 68,000 ALL, so the old 8,000 ALL has increased. We are unhappy with the reward, and we asked the municipality to be rewarded like our 'sisters', Elbasan, Durrës and Shkodra. This was not accepted, then we started and left and they want a new formation for the Symphony Orchestra. I don't think the conditions of Korça make it a Symphony Orchestra. It's like a football team with 11 players, and 6 players left. Instruments are missing.

Kor?a String Orchestra, problems with contracts/ Conductor: We want a salary

The contract was that everyone must do 8 tests a month to receive the salary assistance, will Tirana come 8 times a month to Korça for tests? Erzeni will come from Lamia to Korça to rehearse 8 times a month? There is ambiguity, there is fog inside. Of course, we are ready to return because we have that craft. Not playing in the Symphony Orchestra is a result of not meeting our requirements. We asked the municipality to increase our salary and they ignored us at all. It is good news for Korça, but not with mercenaries, because the Symphony Orchestra cannot be made with the forces that Korça has. Instruments are needed, I don't want to tell them now what they are missing", declared Tanto.

In a reaction, the Art and Culture Center in Korça has called all the artistic forces to be part of the inauguration celebrations of this institution and the 100th anniversary of the Symphony Orchestra. According to the leaders of the Center, this year will be the year of the revival of the Korca Symphony Orchestra with the return of the conductor Ilir Erzeni and the 44 instrumentalists who have already started work./ CNA