Kane Dane
SAN FRANCISCO — With the Metropolitan Opera’s bombshell announcement that Placido Domingo won’t take the Met point this week — and perhaps ever again — that the mythical singer’s sole scheduled U.S. looks are set for second year in California, such as in the LA Opera, where he’s general manager and under investigation for sexual misconduct.
Three other firms — such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Opera and Dallas Opera — had eliminated Domingo from forthcoming performances in the aftermath of several sexual harassment allegations released by The Connected Press. The Met’s decision came on the eve of Wednesday’s sold-out season opener of”Macbeth,” amid increasing tensions within the venerable association and dangers of protests planned for outdoors.
In a short, carefully worded statement Tuesday, that the Met suggested it had requested the famous tenor to resign, saying,”Placido Domingo has consented to draw from all possible performances at the Met, effective immediately.” In his statement to Met employees, Domingo reported that in age 78 he was pleased to have sung the title role of”Macbeth” from the dress rehearsal,”that I believe my very last operation on the Met stage.”
Domingo stated in Tuesday’s announcement,”I firmly dispute recent allegations made about me,” without providing any specifics.
For decades, Domingo has become the opera world’s most bankable celebrity, with the star ability to fill chairs in an age of dwindling ticket sales. As time passes, he’s also widened his portfolio, getting a successful conductor and potent administrator as the overall manager of two leading American businesses, initially at Washington Opera and afterwards at LA Opera, where he has held the post since 2003.
In two reports released Aug. 13 and Sept.. 5, the AP talked to numerous girls who stated Domingo attempted to pressure them to sexual relationships and occasionally punished them professionally whenever they refused him. They said feared reporting him due to his capacity to make or break their professions, which his behavior was an open secret at the opera world.
From the first report, nine girls comprehensive accusations of sexual harassment, unwanted kisses, backstage touring along with other improper behaviour that in certain cases prompted women to conceal from him in dressing rooms and inquire male coworkers to walk them for their automobiles. The next report contained an account by soprano Angela Turner Wilson, who stated Domingo chased her for months in Washington Opera and suddenly reached his hands into her robe and successfully grabbed her bare breast when they had been getting their makeup done in front of a performance.
Wilson stated she felt”relieved” from the Met’s actions but also expected that shining a light onto Domingo’s behavior would cause wider shift in the business.
“It’s exceptionally difficult but absolutely essential to implement changes in policy and run for the security of future generations of opera singers, all individuals now working in animation, as well as the best survival of our cherished art form,” Wilson said in an announcement to the AP.
The LA Opera didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday about the development of its own investigation, which it declared over a month ago. Domingo also has been researched by the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union representing several stunt workers, which told AP earlier this week it expects to complete its investigation in roughly two weeks.
Domingo, who helped found that the LA Opera from the 1980s, is scheduled to headline six performances of”Roberto Devereux” in February and March. He’s also scheduled to appear at February in the Musco Center for the Arts in Orange County, California.
Through its inquiry, LA Opera has eliminated Domingo from daily operations as overall manager. It’s not given an expected timeframe for the analysis, which has been directed by Debra Wong Yang, a former U.S. lawyer and Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, a partner in the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
For the remaining portion of the year, Domingo’s livelihood is going to probably be centred in Europe, in which the accusations of harassment haven’t hurt him professionally.
He had been greeted with ovations at theatres this August at Austria, soon following the accusations arose.
None of Domingo’s forthcoming performances in Europe are cancelled; He’s got a busy autumn lineup of operas and concerts in Switzerland, Russia, Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland.
