MPO has made 17 recordings under 3 labels. Controversies During Flor's music directorship, nine musicians on fixed-term contracts which expired on 15 August 2012 had been dismissed from the orchestra. The case led to calls to boycott auditions for the orchestra. On 15 February 2012, the MPO sent notices to the nine musicians to officially notify that their contracts will not be renewed. Seven out of the nine musicians who received the non-renewal notices filed a legal suit against the MPO at the Malaysian Industrial Court, challenging their former employer's decision not to extend their contracts. The musicians were Toko Inomoto (violist), Brian C. Larson (violinist), Paul Andrew Philbert (timpanist), Darcey Layne Timmerman (percussionist), Kevin Hugh Thompson (trombonist), Markus Gundermann (violinist) and Liu Jian (violinist). In 2015, Malaysian Industrial Court threw out their dismissal suit, citing that the musicians’ fixed term contracts had naturally expired, and therefore, the MPO had not even needed to dismiss them. The court opined that the case is not considered 'sacking' or 'dismissal' but merely not extending the expired contract, which is common in many industries. In a separate case, in May 2014, the Malaysian Industrial Court had ordered the MPO to pay a fine of for the dismissal of its former General Manager, Kim Sargeant in 2006 This decision was reversed in 2016. Music directors and principal conductors Kees Bakels (1998–2005, Music Director) Matthias Bamert (2005–2008, Principal Conductor) Claus Peter Flor (2008–2014, Music Director) Fabio Mechetti (2014–2015, Principal Conductor) Jun Märkl (Music Director-designate, effective 2021) Resident conductors Ooi Chean See (1998-2006) Ciarán McAuley (2014–2016) Naohisa Furusawa (2016–present) Gerard Salonga (2018–present) See also Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra References External links Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra official website Malaysian Property Partners - Malaysian Philharmonic "Criticisms on MPO, baseless". The Mole blog, undated entry Malaysian orchestras Symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 1997 1997 establishments in Malaysia