Violinist’s S.F. shows canceled after report
Local festival joins groups dropping Preucil as he faces sexual assault allegations
The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival on Friday evening announced that a wellknown violinist and concertmaster will not appear in upcoming performances following a report earlier this week that he is facing allegations of sexual assault.
A festival spokesman said William Preucil “has been replaced” on the festival’s program. Preucil, who performed Wednesday in Santa Fe, had been scheduled to play at additional concerts Sunday, Monday and Thursday.
The news came hours after the Cleveland Orchestra — where Preucil was concertmaster for more than 20 years — announced it was suspending Preucil “until further notice” while opening an investigation into allegations of sexual assault leveled at him in an article this week in the Washington Post.
“The Cleveland Orchestra was not aware of the allegations reported by the Washington Post about William Preucil in their July 26, 2018 article,” said André Gremillet, the orchestra’s executive director, in a Friday news release. “We take this matter very seriously and
will promptly conduct an independent investigation. Mr. Preucil has been suspended until further notice.”
Following his suspension, Preucil lost performances at other venues, including the Grand Teton Music Festival — where he was one of four concertmasters listed this summer — and the University of Texas at Austin, where he had a performance scheduled in October.
When initially informed of the allegations reported in the Post, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival officials said Preucil would perform here as scheduled.
Festival board Chairman Arnold Tenenbaum told The New Mexican on Thursday it was the first he’d heard of allegations against Preucil, a frequent performer with the festival, and added, “I’m sorry to hear that there’s a story out there.”
That comment drew a response on The New Mexican’s website from local resident Mary Conant, who wrote, “Wrong answer, Mr. Tenenbaum. How about, ‘The Board of Trustees takes these matters seriously and we’ll be looking into it immediately.’ ”
And even Friday afternoon, following news that the Cleveland Orchestra had suspended Preucil and other venues had canceled his performances, music festival officials in Santa Fe at first said his shows here would continue as planned.
They later said they were “looking into it” and eventually announced the decision to replace him.
In the Post’s Thursday report — the result of a six-month investigation into a wide range of musicians’ allegations they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by high-profile instructors and mentors — violinist Zeneba Bowers said Preucil had assaulted her in his hotel room in 1998 after a music lesson when she was a fellow at the New World Symphony.
Other musicians confirmed Preucil’s reputation for inappropriate advances.
Preucil’s behavior toward women has been discussed in classical music circles for more than a decade.
A 2007 article in an alternative paper, the Cleveland Scene, alleged Preucil made an unwanted advance toward a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he is a teacher. The student subsequently transferred to a different school, at CIM’s expense. Preucil told the Cleveland Scene reporter who wrote the story that “the issue was fully reviewed by the institution and was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Gremillet, who has been at the Cleveland Orchestra for two and a half years, told the Washington Post on Friday afternoon: “There was no blind eye turned. No allegations were made; no one came forward to anyone in management. I need to know about it to do something about it.”
“I don’t want to make assumptions about Bill,” Gremillet said. “But we have to be careful that we don’t condemn someone in the court of public opinion. We need people to come forward. I know how difficult it is, but we need to hear about it.” He told the Post he hopes the fact that the orchestra responded so quickly shows how seriously it takes this matter.
The Cleveland Institute of Music, where Preucil is a longtime faculty member, has not suspended Preucil, though a spokesman told the Washington Post that the school is reviewing the situation internally.
In a news release Friday, school President Paul W. Hogle said, “The board, faculty and staff of the Cleveland Institute of Music are deeply troubled by the Washington Post story discussing issues of sexual harassment in classical music but will not comment on specific allegations made in the article.”
Hogle added, “CIM has zero tolerance for behavior that puts our students at risk.”