Maestro Chung agrees to salary cut

By Kim Rahn

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, artistic director and conductor in residence of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, has decided to renew his contract with the orchestra for the next three years with a reduced salary.

The world-renowned conductor and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon agreed on the new contract over lunch in central Seoul, Friday.

The agreement comes amid a controversy over Chung’s annual salary of 2 billion won ($1.7 million), including allowances, airfares for him and his family, salary to his staff and other expenses.

The new contract is expected to cut his annual wages by up to 700 million won.

According to the contract, the annual basic salary of 230 million won will remain the same, while the allowance per regular concert, 42 million won, will rise by 5 percent. For concerts performed at other facilities, Chung used to receive half of the allowance but will not receive any under the new contract.

Business class seat fares for his family and manager, as well as salaries for his staff in Europe will not be provided.

The terms of the contract cover three years, but can be changed.

Park said he asked Chung to keep leading the orchestra. “I respect his passion he has given to the orchestra and the achievement it has obtained as a result,” he said after the meeting.

Chung said he didn’t care about the controversy but he hoped to spend his life contributing to the development of Korea’s music and the orchestra as a Korean.

After his salary was disclosed last month, there was an argument over whether it was too much.