€22,800 Masterclass at Albanian State Broadcaster Paid Musicians €50 Each

A private conducting masterclass held inside RTSH, Albania's national state broadcaster, collected €1,200 from each of 19 conductors — roughly €22,800 in total — while paying the approximately 50 musicians of the National Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra only €50 each for the entire six-day event.

That comes to about €2,500 for the whole orchestra, paid essentially as compensation for extra working hours, according to a member of the orchestra who recounted the story to Slippedisc.

Where did the money go?

The masterclass used the publicly funded orchestra's players, its hall and its recording facilities at the state broadcaster. The public website advertising the course listed the €1,200 fee but did not disclose where payments were being directed.

The orchestra member says they have seen confidential emails and payment instructions showing the fees were routed to an Italian organisation through an Italian IBAN. The organisation is named as Associazione Culturale Musik Master.

"So the obvious question is: where did the remaining roughly €20,000 go?" the orchestra member said.

What does the discrepancy amount to?

The figures, as reported by the source:

• 19 conductors from around the world, each paying €1,200
• Total fees collected: approximately €22,800
• Orchestra musicians paid: €50 each, roughly €2,500 across all 50 players
• Unaccounted remainder: roughly €20,000
• Duration: six days inside the RTSH premises

The payment structure meant the musicians of a publicly funded ensemble received around 11% of the gross revenue generated by an event staged in their own hall, using their own labour and their employer's recording facilities.

Why it matters

The case raises questions about how a private, fee-charging commercial event came to be hosted inside Albania's national state broadcaster, and whether public resources — an orchestra, a concert hall and recording infrastructure — were used to channel revenue to a foreign private association without proportionate compensation for the performers.

Neither RTSH nor Associazione Culturale Musik Master has publicly accounted for the roughly €20,000 difference between the fees collected and the musicians' payment, according to the source's account. Unless the broadcaster clarifies how such arrangements are approved and audited, the episode is likely to linger as a cautionary tale for state-funded ensembles approached by foreign masterclass promoters.