Famed conductor Charles Dutoit and actor James Franco face more charges of sexual impropriety.
Orchestras drop him as he denies any impropriety
SAN FRANCISCO — Six more women have stepped forward to accuse prominent conductor Charles Dutoit of sexually assaulting them in the United States, France and Canada, including a musician who says the maestro raped her in 1988.
The women said they were compelled to speak out after The Associated Press published a story Dec. 21 detailing accusations from three singers and a musician who said Dutoit forcibly restrained them, groped them and kissed them without permission.
The 81-year-old Grammy-winning conductor emphatically denied the accusations, but eight major orchestras immediately distanced themselves from him, and two launched their own investigations.
The new accusers said they were angered by his initial denial and wanted to show the scope of Dutoit’s sexual misconduct during his globe-trotting career.
Dutoit had been principal conductor and artistic director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Hours after the AP sent Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic detailed summaries of the fresh allegations, the orchestra announced Wednesday that he was leaving those posts.
Dutoit issued a statement saying he was “sickened” to be accused “of the heinous crime of rape.” “I am shaken to the core by this bewildering and baseless charge. To this, I submit my categorical and complete denial,” he said.
During a career leading the world’s top orchestras, Dutoit has held such notable positions as music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The woman who accused the conductor of raping her said the assault occurred when she was working with him at an orchestra on the East Coast of the U.S. in early 1988. The AP does not publish the names of people who say they are victims of sexual assault without their permission.
The musician said she was 28 and auditioning for an orchestra where Dutoit was guest-conducting. One night, she rode the elevator up with him to their hotel floor, the woman said.
“As soon as I got to my room, the phone rang. It was Maestro Dutoit,” she said, adding that he told her his luggage was broken and asked for a tool used to fix musical instruments. She brought it to his room, where he quickly forced herself on her, she said.
“He came closer to me and tried to kiss me, and held my head so strongly it ripped my earring out,” said the musician, now in her 50s.
“His pants were down in a split second and he was inside me before I could blink,” she said. She said she started crying, told him to stop and that she was married, but that it made no difference.
AP spoke with three male musicians who said she confided in them after the encounter. One of them recalled she was afraid to be alone and said he served as her chaperone at subsequent concerts.
French soprano AnneSophie Schmidt told the AP that Dutoit pushed her against a wall, groped her and forcibly kissed her in 1995 at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Canadian soprano Pauline Vaillancourt told the AP that Dutoit asked her to dinner to discuss work issues after a performance with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in March 1981. She said he then drove her home, stopping the car to grope her breasts and other parts of her body.
Canadian musician Mary Lou Basaraba said she was in her early 20s when she was asked to interview Dutoit for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970s. The interview took place in Dutoit’s apartment, where he put his hands on her breasts and crotch and tried to kiss her, she said.
The AP cross-checked the accusers’ accounts with friends or colleagues they talked to about their experiences.