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SEOUL, South Korea — When the respected Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra announced this month that it was canceling its United States tour set for April, it cited fiscal woes. Left unsaid were the lurid allegations of sexual harassment and financial improprieties that have rocked the orchestra recently, culminating in a police raid of its offices here.
韩国首尔——本月宣布将取消原定于4月举行的美国巡演时，受人尊敬的首尔爱乐乐团(Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra)给出的理由是经费困难。没说出来的，是有关性骚扰和财务违规的骇人指控。相关指控最近让乐团动荡不安，并导致警方突击搜查它在这里的办公地。
The infighting is threatening to slow the progress that the orchestra has made since Myung-whun Chung, who has conducted many of the world’s major ensembles and is a towering cultural figure here, became its music director in 2005. Since then, as he has remade the orchestra, attendance has risen, international tours have been well reviewed and a contract with Deutsche Grammophon has allowed it to release a number of recordings.
这场内讧可能会放慢该乐团自郑明勋(Myung-whun Chung)于2005年担任音乐总监以来取得的进步。郑明勋指挥过世界上的很多大乐团，是韩国文化界的重量级人物。自任职以来，郑明勋重组了乐团，使得它的上座率增加，国际巡演取得好评，并与德意志留声机公司(Deutsche Grammophon)签订了一份合同，得以发行大量唱片。
The first casualty of the chaos was a tour that was supposed to take it to Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Chicago in April. The orchestra said in a statement that a significant cut in tour funding from the City of Seoul had forced it to cancel. Mr. Chung said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened” by the decision. But the backstage troubles of the orchestra, whose appearance last year in London at the BBC Proms won praise, go back much further. They burst into public view in December, when an anonymous statement claiming to be from orchestra employees was sent to news organizations and called for the resignation of the president of the orchestra, Park Hyun-jung, claiming that she had abused women on the staff with insults, sometimes sexist, since she joined the organization in 2013.
混乱局面首先波及的，便是原定于4月在洛杉矶、旧金山、西雅图、密歇根州安娜堡和芝加哥举行的巡演。乐团发表声明称，首尔市政府大幅削减巡演资金迫使其取消相关计划。郑明勋则在另一份声明中称，他对这一决定“深感遗憾”。去年亮相伦敦BBC逍遥音乐会(BBC Proms)时，首尔爱乐乐团赢得赞誉。但其幕后的麻烦要回溯到更早的时候。去年12月，一封自称出自乐团雇员之手的匿名信寄至新闻机构，问题旋即暴露在公众面前。匿名信要求团长朴贤晶(Park Hyun-jung)下台，宣称自2013年加入乐团以来，朴贤晶一直辱骂女员工，还不时带有性别歧视色彩。
Ms. Park defended herself, saying that while she might have used some rough language, she had simply been trying to jolt staff members out of complacency. She in turn raised questions about how public money was being spent by the orchestra, and charged that she had been the victim of a plot by Mr. Chung — saying that he saw her efforts to reform the organization as a challenge to his leadership and the perks he enjoyed.
朴贤晶为自己辩护，表示尽管有时候可能使用了粗鲁的语言，但她只是在努力让乐团成员不要自满。她转而质疑乐团支出公款的方式，并控诉自己是郑明勋设计的阴谋的受害者。她声称，在郑明勋眼里，自己改革乐团的种种努力挑战了他享受的领导地位和好处。
Mr. Chung later said that he had spoken with city officials in Seoul about Ms. Park’s conduct at the orchestra. “My position is simple,” he was quoted as saying in December. “It’s a human rights violation.”
郑明勋随后表示，他同首尔市的官员谈论过朴贤晶在乐团的所作所为。“我的立场很简单，”有报道在去年12月援引他的话说。“那是侵犯人权。”
Ms. Park resigned from the orchestra at the end of December. But officials in Seoul also began looking at Mr. Chung’s pay and perks, and in January city auditors raised questions about air travel that some of his relatives had taken, and about whether his outside appearances, including with the Vienna State Opera, had disrupted the Seoul Philharmonic’s schedule.
朴贤晶于去年12月底辞职，但首尔的官员也开始调查郑明勋的薪水和补贴。今年1月，市级审计机构对他的一些行为提出了质疑，包括他部分亲属的航空旅行，以及他与维也纳国家歌剧院( Vienna State Opera)等外部机构的携手亮相是否扰乱了首尔爱乐乐团的日程安排。
Mr. Chung comes from South Korea’s best-known musical family. He rose to prominence while playing in a trio with his sisters — the violinist Kyung-wha Chung and the cellist Myung-wha Chung — before embarking on an international conducting career. He has been paid more than $1 million a year by the orchestra, and defended himself and his pay at a news conference in January. He criticized city officials for failing to build a new concert hall for the orchestra and for cutting its budget, and warned that he would not agree to renew his contract at the Seoul Philharmonic unless it receives more resources.
郑明勋来自韩国著名的音乐世家。通过与姐姐——小提琴家郑京和(Kyung-wha Chung)与大提琴家郑明和(Myung-wha Chung)——表演三重奏，他崭露头角，后来又在国际上开始了音乐指挥生涯。他在首尔爱乐乐团的年薪超过1百万美元（约合620万元人民币）。今年1月，他召开新闻发布会为自己及薪酬进行了辩护。他批评市里的官员不仅没有为乐团建造新的音乐厅，而且还削减了预算。他发出警告，除非首尔爱乐乐团获得更多资源，否则他将拒绝与乐团续约。
“In the old days, people didn’t attend Seoul Philharmonic performances even if they were given free tickets,” he said at the news conference. “Now, those who invite foreign orchestras complain to me that they can’t do business because of the Seoul Philharmonic.”
“过去，人们即使有免费的票，也不来看首尔爱乐的演出，”他在新闻发布会上说。“现在，邀请外国交响乐团来韩国演出的人向我抱怨，因为首尔爱乐，他们的生意都没法做了。”
He declined a request for an interview. Orchestra officials would not comment publicly on the recent events, citing pending investigations.
郑明勋拒绝了本报记者的采访请求。爱乐乐团的官员也不愿公开评论近期的事件，理由是调查仍在进行当中。
“At the heart of this scandal is the clash of two gigantic egos,” said Lee Yong-il, a former conductor and an honorary chairman of the Korean Society for Music Education. “Chung thinks he is a world-class conductor and Park thinks she is an expert in management. This was a scandal waiting to happen because the two obviously did not respect each other.”
“这起丑闻的核心是两个极其自负的人之间的矛盾，”韩国音乐教育协会的前指挥、荣誉主席李永一（Lee Yong-il，音）说。“郑明勋认为自己是一名世界级的指挥家，朴贤晶认为自己是管理专家。这桩丑闻迟早要发生，因为两人明显不把对方放在眼里。”
The battles have made headlines in South Korea. An editorial at the liberal Hankyoreh newspaper recently decried the “mud-pit fight” at the orchestra, while the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper warned in an editorial that the squabbling would alienate audiences.
这些内斗引发了韩国媒体的关注。自由派的《韩民族日报》(Hankyoreh)近期的一篇社论谴责了首尔爱乐乐团的“泥坑大战”，而保守派的《朝鲜日报》(Chosun Ilbo)则在其社论中提醒，这些争吵会疏远观众。
The scandal took a new turn this month when the police raided the orchestra’s offices here and confiscated computer equipment, cellphones and a fax machine. The authorities were apparently investigating a claim by Ms. Park that the whistle-blowers at the orchestra had defamed her. (Defamation is a criminal offense in South Korea.)
这桩丑闻本月出现了新的动向：警方突访了首尔爱乐乐团的办公室，没收了电脑设备、手机和一部传真机。当局似乎在调查朴贤晶的指控，即乐团的告密者对她构成了诽谤。（诽谤在韩国属刑事犯罪。）
A few days later the orchestra said that the American tour was being canceled because the Seoul Metropolitan Council would not allocate the money needed for the tour and corporate sponsors were not stepping in to help.
几天之后，乐团宣布，取消美国之行，因为首尔市议会不愿提供此行所需的资金，也没有替代的企业赞助者伸出援手。
Recently, members of the orchestra issued a statement supporting Mr. Chung. They said the controversy had “spun out of control” and was damaging the ensemble’s hard-won international reputation, and accused critics of Mr. Chung and the orchestra of politicizing the scandal with damaging results.
最近，一些乐团成员发布了一份支持郑明勋的声明。他们表示，这次的争议已经“失控”，正在破坏乐团来之不易的国际声誉。他们还指责，批评郑明勋本人及乐团的那些人使得丑闻政治化，造成了破坏性的后果。
“An orchestra, which is a cultural and artistic entity, should not be interpreted or used with political and economic logic,” they said in the statement. “We hold deep trust in Maestro Chung’s musical capabilities and leadership in helping the Seoul Philharmonic win international recognition, as well as his contribution to the orchestra as its musical director.”
“一家乐团，是一个文化艺术实体，不应该以政治经济逻辑加以解读或利用，”他们在声明中说。“我们非常信任郑明勋大师帮助首尔爱乐乐团赢得国际认可的音乐才华和领导力，以及他作为音乐总监对乐团的贡献。”
