The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s choice of its new chief executive has stirred controversy, with an anonymous letter apparently sent to the government to protest against the selection of Austrian businessman Bernhard Fleischer being circulated online.
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On August 21, the orchestra announced that effective from September 1, Salzburg-born Fleischer would take over the job vacated by his German predecessor Benedikt Fohr, who left the orchestra in July after being in the job for six years.
Fleischer is mostly known as an entrepreneur who founded his company, Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images, in 1998. It specialises in filming live performances of classical music, operas and dance in Europe and the US and making documentaries about the performing arts.
In June, Fleischer’s company was hired by the orchestra to come to Hong Kong to film Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski – who will become the orchestra’s music director in the 2026/27 season – conducting Dutch composer Henk de Vlieger’s adaptation of Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle.
The anonymous letter by “an orchestra supporter”, published on the UK classical music blog Slipped Disc on the same day, claims that “several orchestra members” have expressed concern about Fleischer’s “less-than-professional demeanour during his recent Hong Kong visit, describing certain interactions as unbefitting of a CEO”.
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The letter, which has not been independently verified by the Post, also complains about his lack of track record as an orchestra administrator, a fact that, when paired with 25-year-old Peltokoski’s limited experience, is akin to “hiring a Cathay Pacific pilot who has never flown a plane” – a nod to the fact that the appointment is backed by HK Phil chairman David Cogman, a director of Swire Pacific, owner of Hong Kong’s flagship airline.