As a professional musician, I’ve always been fortunate enough to work with the best, well-respected musicians and top industry professionals who not only represent art and talent but also embody human values. However in one particular case I wasn’t so lucky. After auditioning and being asked to join the Spanish guitarist Roni Benise’s show “Night’s of Fire” as a solo violinist in Los Angeles, Miami, and Waikiki Hawaii, I decided to cancel my other arrangements including a European tour and other great performance opportunities in Los Angeles. Even though, several of my colleagues and friends, who are all professional musicians, warned me of Benise, that he’s not reliable and does not pay salaries, I decided to take the risk after he personally convinced me. I just could not see him as an unreliable person. From March 3rd to April 20th, 2013 with almost no days off, we were performing, rehearsing and doing promo work to get Benise’s “Night’s of Fire” show on its feet because the show was not popular in Waikiki Hawaii. I was signing autographs and taking photos and promoting the show. The most enjoyable moments were when the audience was commenting on how influential and inspiring my playing was. I’m thankful for all the people who wrote great reviews about my performances. It was truly a pleasure to perform for all of you. As time passed, Benise failed to provide checks on time and after the tour, when I got back to Los Angeles, Benise finally sent me the last check, except I wasn’t able to cash it because he had put stop payments on two of the checks. I also learned that all of the other musicians and dancers were in the same situation as I was. Nobody was happy. We were all very disappointed. When I talked to him on the phone, Benise informed me that after I left Waikiki, his agent failed to pay him by running away from Hawaii and that he had no more money. He did ensure me however that he would provide all he owed me and that he never breaches his contracts. Even though this story seemed suspicious to me, I tried to understand his situation and wait, until I found out that Benise was opening another show in Maui and hiring other cast. I was confused because a person with no money would not be able to open another show. After hearing this news and waiting for more the 3 months I realized that he had no intentions of keeping his promises. My colleagues and friends were right about him and his history of not paying. I heard of at least five stories about Benise failing to pay his musicians and dancers and some of them took him to court and won. With all this chaos Roni Benise is still performing in The Maui Theatre mauitheatre/bookingtemp/benise.php with local Maui musicians and dancers who have no clue that he owes great amounts of money to his previous musicians and dancers. It is painful to see more and more people being trapped by Roni Benise. I am fortunate to have great friends and colleagues who give me so much support and love. I do not regret going on this tour and meeting all the incredible people who I can now call my friends, also dancers and musicians I had the pleasure of working with. I believe in Karma and that everything we do comes back to us. Good or bad. I feel obligated to let all the fans of the Benise show know the real reason why I will not be performing with Benise’s “Night’s of Fire”, and hopefully to help people avoid dealing with somebody who is only concerned about utilizing others talents and efforts and breaking his contracts. If you would like to know more details about this matter please message me and I will forward your message to my attorney who will answer all your questions.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 03:17:11 +0000
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