Domingo groped us too, claim opera singers
The opera singer Placido Domingo is facing more allegations of sexual harassment after 11 women came forward to accuse him of groping them.
The accusations were made after eight singers and a dancer said last month that the Spanish tenor had sexually harassed them in incidents spanning 30 years.
Domingo, 78, described the accusations then as ‘‘deeply troubling and, as presented, inaccurate’’. He said he ‘‘believed that all my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual’’.
Angela Turner Wilson, 48, an American singer and voice coach, who was working with Domingo during a 1999-2000 production of Le Cid by the Washington Opera, is among the 11 women to come forward since the claims were first reported last month by the Associated Press.
She claimed that before a performance he put his hand under her clothes and grabbed her breast. ‘‘It hurt.
It was not gentle,’’ she said, adding that she had cried out in pain.
Wilson, then 28, said that afterwards Domingo turned and walked away, leaving her humiliated.
She said she had decided to accuse him publicly because in response to the initial allegations Domingo had suggested that ‘‘the rules and standards by which we are and should be measured against today are very different’’.
‘‘What woman would ever want him to grab her breast?’’ Wilson said. ‘‘Then I had to go on stage and act like I was in love with him.’’
Another woman accused Domingo of putting his hand down her skirt and three others said he tried to force them to kiss him. They requested anonymity because they still work in the industry, which has long been dominated by Domingo and other powerful men, and feared recriminations.
Backstage employees concerned about the star’s alleged proclivities said they had tried to shield young women from him. Melinda McLain, who worked at Houston Grand Opera, claimed she did not leave him in rehearsal rooms alone with young female singers. ‘‘We created these elaborate schemes for keeping him away from particular singers,’’ she said.
Several people who worked in the Los Angeles Opera, where Domingo has worked since the 1980s, said that his alleged behaviour was common knowledge and that management had been aware of it for years. The company, of which Domingo is general director, is investigating the claims. One employee said: ‘‘I was told by my direct boss that they avoided sending any sort of attractive young woman into a fitting with him because of his behaviour.’’
A spokesman for Domingo said that the latest allegations were part of a campaign to undermine his reputation. Alongside Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, Domingo performed as one of the Three Tenors, popularising opera and producing some of the bestselling classical records ever made.
‘‘The campaign by the AP to denigrate Placido Domingo is not only inaccurate but unethical. These new claims are riddled with inconsistencies and, as with the first story, in many ways, simply incorrect,’’ his spokesman said. ‘‘Due to an investigation, we will not comment on specifics, but we strongly dispute the misleading picture that the AP is attempting to paint.’’
– The Times