Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Opera. Show all posts

Saturday, May 19, 2018

BREAKING: NY's Met sues fired conductor Levine in abuse case


by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, France24 Entertainment reporters, New York


    © AFP/File | New York's Metropolitan Opera detailed seven alleged incidents of sexual abuse or harassment in a lawsuit against its former conductor James Levine

    NEW YORK - 
    New York's Metropolitan Opera has sued its former conductor James Levine, detailing seven alleged incidents of sexual abuse or harassment turned up during an internal investigation.
    In a complaint filed with the New York Supreme Court, the Met said the alleged cases took place between 1970 and 1999.
    It said the influential conductor had repeatedly "used his reputation and position of power to prey upon and abuse artists."
    The prestigious opera demanded at least $5.85 million in damages and interest, saying Levine had caused "significant reputational and economic harm" to the institution.
    The Met's filing did not name the victims of the alleged abuse.
    But it chronicled one case of a musician -- only 16 years old when the alleged abuse began in 1986 -- allegedly pressured by Levine to engage in mutual masturbation sessions, and whom he had paid some $50,000 over several years.
    Levine was said to have also "made sexual remarks and/or inappropriately touched" another 16-year-old artist at least seven times between 1979 and 1991.
    In another instance, the Met said Levine, while driving a singer home from an audition, had locked the car's doors and "began groping and kissing" him against his will.
    Levine then placed the performer in a "prestigious" Met program, according to the suit.
    The New York Times and New York Post had detailed some of the cases in early December, but five of the seven cases described by the Met had not previously been known.
    In all, nine persons have accused the influential conductor publicly or anonymously of sexual abuse.
    The Met's filing also seeks to rebut accusations Levine himself had lodged in a suit filed after his firing in March that attacked the opera company for breach of contract and defamation.
    His suit demanded $5.8 million in damages and interests from the Met.
    Levine has rejected all the harassment and abuse accusations, accusing the Met of taking advantage of the anti-abuse #MeToo movement to pursue a vendetta against him. He has so far faced no criminal charges.
    Levine officially retired after the 2015-16 season following 40 years leading the Met's musical program, citing health reasons.
    But he had remained its honorary musical director and had returned several times to conduct the orchestra, most recently for a December 2 presentation of Verdi's "Requiem."
    Canadian conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin has taken over Levine's former duties.

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    Tuesday, March 13, 2018

    Metropolitan Opera fires James Levine after sex abuse claims


    US conductor James Levine pictured in 2007Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES
    Image captionUS conductor James Levine has called the allegations "unfounded"
    by Biodun Iginla, BBC News, New York
    New York's Metropolitan Opera has fired eminent conductor James Levine, after an internal inquiry found "credible evidence" to support claims he sexually abused young male musicians.
    The conductor, now 74, was music director at the Met for 40 years.
    He retired for health reasons in 2016, but had continued to work with the opera as music director emeritus.
    "The investigation uncovered credible evidence that Mr Levine had engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct both before and during the period when he worked at the Met," the opera house said in a statement.
    It said there was also evidence that the conductor abused and harassed "vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers".
    The Met said more than 70 people were interviewed during its investigation.
    People walk outside the doors of New York's Metropolitan OperaImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
    Image captionNew York's Met is one of the world's most prestigious opera houses
    Four men have accused Mr Levine of sexually abusing them decades ago. Some say they were teenagers at the time.
    An Illinois police report, seen by the New York Times, said one of the alleged victims claimed that the abuse began in 1985 when he was 15 and Mr Levine was 41, and continued until 1993.
    The conductor has previously called the accusations "unfounded."
    "As anyone who truly knows me will attest, I have not lived my life as an oppressor or an aggressor," he said in a statement.
    Mr Levine is one the most high-profile figures in classical music to face claims of sexual misconduct in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
    In December London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra relieved its principal conductor and artistic director Charles Dutoit of his duties following allegations against him, which he denies.
    Mr Levine has led more than 2,500 performances at the Met, one of the world's most illustrious opera houses, and is often named among America's top conductors.
    He has struggled with Parkinson's disease and other health issues and now conducts from a motorised wheelchair.

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