Outgoing Sydney Symphony Orchestra Chief Executive alleges NSW Government ‘hit job’

Outgoing Sydney Symphony Orchestra Chief Executive Emma Dunch has claimed she was subject to a “politically architected ‘hit job’ of the highest order” by the NSW Government as she abruptly exited the role today with two years still to run in her contract.

Dunch’s departure was announced today (10th December) by Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), four years into her six-year contract.

In a personal statement then issued by Dunch, she said she would be taking a case of harassment to government anti-corruption channels.

Her statement advised “we all know that NSW politics is a blood sport, but I have been targeted with a politically architected ‘hit job’ of the highest order across the past several years.”

Advising that she had maintained “a reluctant professional silence while experiencing ongoing vilification and harassment behind the scenes”, Dunch noted “it has been an ugly business and I will be taking appropriate action via the government corruption channels available to me.

“This damaging behaviour by government workers must be called out and discredited. It is abhorrent and destructive. Our cultural institutions and their hardworking leaders must demand better from the people employed by our elected politicians.”

Dunch, who has run the orchestra since 2017, claimed the “harassment” against her had increased as she pressed Create NSW, the NSW Government’s arts funding agency, to lie up to a commitment to keep the SSO solvent while away from its traditional home, the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall during the venue’s refurbishment

Dunch had been pressing Create NSW to pay a further $5 million to compensate the SSO for the cost of playing in the much smaller venue of Sydney Town Hall, on top of $5 million already committed.

Late last month, the Australian Financial Review published details of a confidential report, commissioned by Create NSW and federal arts funding body The Australia Council, raising concerns about Dunch’s leadership style.

A career arts administrator, Dunch joined the arts company in 2017 to manage its two-year exile from the Concert Hall, its home since 1973.

During her four years at the SSO, Dunch had lured world-renowned Australian Simone Young as Chief Conductor and avoided redundancies and the industrial unrest that had afflicted Opera Australia during the worst of the pandemic.

Image: Emma Dunch. Credit: Sydney Symphony Orchestra.