Sex claims hit head of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 81
Three opera singers and a musician accuse conductor of assault
THE artistic director and principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has been accused of sexually assaulting four female musicians.
Charles Dutoit, 81, is alleged to have lured three opera singers and a musician to his hotel suite before forcing himself on to them in separate incidents between 1985 and 2010.
They claim the alleged attacks took place in the US cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and New York.
None of the women, who made the allegations to the Associated Press news agency, filed an official complaint at the time because of their youth and Mr Dutoit’s status in the classical music world, they said.
Mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen said Mr Dutoit pushed her against a wall, kissed her and touched her inappropriately in his dressing room in September 1991.
She alleges the Swiss conductor asked her to see him alone at the LA Opera before attacking her. Miss Rasmussen, who once played Carmen at the New York City Opera, said he continued to ask her to his dressing room afterwards.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, she brought a friend along to Mr Dutoit’s dressing room.
Baritone John Atkins said: ‘He looked at me, like, “Why are you standing here?”. And I looked at him, like, “You know why”.’
Soprano Sylvia McNair, 61, said Mr Dutoit ‘tried to have his way’ with her in a hotel lift in March 1985. The singer, who once performed for the Pope, said the attack took place after they had been rehearsing with the Minnesota Orchestra.
She said: ‘As soon as it was just the two of us in the elevator, Charles Dutoit pushed me back against the wall and pressed his knee way up between my legs and pressed himself all over me. I managed to shove him off and at that moment, the door opened. I remember saying, “Stop it!”, and I made a dash for it.’
An unnamed soprano said Mr Dutoit restrained her wrists, pushed her against a wall and pressed himself on her in New York in 2006.
She said the alleged attack happened after a meeting in the conductor’s dressing room. The singer said he also groped her breasts in a car and before a performance.
She said: ‘There is nothing wrong with him as a musician. But he has been allowed to operate as a predator off the stage.’
Then, in 2010, she said he forced himself on her again, this time in his dressing room in Philadelphia, adding: ‘It was almost worse, because I knew what I was walking into.’
Another unnamed musician accused Mr Dutoit of forcing himself on her in Chicago in 2006, when he rearranged their lunch meeting to be held in his hotel room.
She said: ‘He was just pushing himself against me, trying to kiss me, grabbing hold of my body, pushing his body on me. I absolutely said no, pushed him away, went to the other side of the room.’ Mr Dutoit declined to comment. He became principle conductor of the RPO in London in 2009, and will become an honorary conductor for life when he steps down in 2019.
He was music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France and the NHK Symphony in Tokyo.
No one from the RPO was available to comment last night.
‘Allowed to operate as a predator’