Met Opera conductor facing sex abuse claims
THE Metropolitan Opera in New York is to investigate allegations that James Levine, regarded by many as America’s greatest conductor, molested a teenage boy for years.
Citing a police report, the New York Post alleges the abuse started while Mr Levine, who spent 40 years as the music director at the Metropolitan Opera, was guest conductor at the Ravinia Music Festival outside Chicago.
Mr Levine has denied the allegations, a spokesman for the Met said. He is the latest prominent figure to be embroiled in allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour that have engulfed politics, cinema, television and now classical music.
The New York Times said it had also seen a copy of the police report in which the allegations had been made.
Responding on Twitter, the Met said: “We are deeply disturbed by the news articles that are being published online today about James Levine. We are working on an investigation [with] outside resources to determine whether charges of sexual misconduct in the 1980s are true, so that we can take appropriate action.”
Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, told The Daily Telegraph: “This first came to the Met’s attention when the Illinois police investigation was opened in October 2016.
“At the time, Mr Levine said that the charges were completely false, and we relied upon the further investigation of the police. We need to determine if these charges are true and, if they are, take appropriate action.”
According to the New York Post, the first physical approach was made in 1985, when the alleged victim was 15. As the alleged abuse continued, Mr Levine also wrote a college recommendation for the young man on college stationery, the paper reported.
Several reports in the US allege the man told police that Mr Levine had given him money over the years, which he estimated amounted to $50,000 (£37,000). The New York Post claims the abuse carried on until 1993, with some incidents taking place in Manhattan. According to the paper, the man – now 48 – told his mother about the alleged abuse in 1993. Last year, he reportedly raised the matter with police in Lake Forest, Illinois, and with a former board member of the Met – who passed the allegations to the general manager.
Rumours of sexual misconduct involving Mr Levine have been circulating for some time and the conductor addressed them himself in a 1987 interview with The New York Times. “Both my friends and my enemies checked it out and I don’t have the faintest idea where those rumours came from or what purpose they served,” he said.
Mr Levine, now 74, is director emeritus of the Met, having been the director until April 2016. During his career, he has conducted more than 2,500 performances with the company elevating its reputation to one of the world’s finest. He is scheduled to conduct Tosca on New Year’s Eve.
Neither Mr Levine nor his agent responded to the New York Post’s request for comment.