Opera singer Placido Domingo denies abusing power, seeks to clear name
Opera fable Placido Domingo denied e'er abusing his ability during his direction tenure at 2 US opera houses in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday (Aug 23), as he embarks on a full-throttle campaign to clear his name subsequently two investigations found credible accusations he had engaged in ''inappropriate conduct'' with multiple women over a period of decades.
Domingo deflected straight questions about whether he always sexually harassed women, accusations that were kickoff reported past the AP final summer. The allegations have crippled his career in the United states, as well as his native Espana.
''I never promised a role to a vocaliser, or never accept a role from a singer," he said. "I accept spent my whole life helping, and you know, encouraging and driving people."' He added that responsibilities within opera companies are divided, meaning he never had sole sway over casting decisions.
''People that deserved to sing were singing,'' he said.
Multiple performers told the AP that Domingo harassed them and abused his ability while he held management positions at Los Angeles Opera and Washington National Opera. Numerous women said Domingo had dangled career opportunities as he pursued sexual relationships with them and then withdrew the offers or stopped hiring them when they rejected his advances.
READ: Opera vocalizer Placido Domingo vows to clear name of sexual attack allegations
Investigations by LA Opera and the American Guild of Musical Artists found the sexual harassment allegations to be credible. LA Opera did non find he had abused his power, but AGMA constitute a clear design of such abuse, according to people who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the findings.
Ii of Domingo'due south managers and a spokesperson briefly cut off the interview when the singer was asked to respond to the fact that both investigations had found the sexual harassment accusations credible and that one had found a pattern of abuse.
AGMA has never released the full study of its findings, but Domingo's team referred to two written statements by the marriage – one for the public and 1 for members – neither of which mentioned abuse of power. They also cited Washington Opera never launching an investigation equally an indication that such allegations were baseless.
''Never, never, never,'' Domingo said, when asked again if he had misused his ability equally a manager.
Domingo put the focus on the abuse of power allegations during a wide-ranging interview in the library of his Naples hotel. Information technology has emerged equally his master line of defense force confronting the accusations that tarnished a yr in which he historic his l-yr anniversaries at both Milan'south La Scala theater and Arena di Verona.
The star tenor, who has moved into baritone roles, has emerged from a bout with coronavirus that put him in the infirmary in Mexico for 10 days in March with a mission to rehabilitate his opera career as he approaches his 80th birthday.
"It was really a large accident when we got – both my wife and me – we got the coronavirus. It was a terrible impression because for a singer, one's lungs are very important,'' he said, noting that his singing training might ultimately accept made him resilient and helped him recover.
Recognising that the virus could pb to expiry, "yous brand decisions that if everything goes well, we need to fix many things in life,' he said.
In Domingo'southward response to the accusations in AP's initial story, he had said he recognised ''the rules and standards past which nosotros are – and should be – measured'' had changed over the decades. And earlier this year, he issued a statement after the union findings were leaked to the AP, saying of the women who accused him that he was "truly sorry for the injure that I caused them. I have full responsibility for my actions."
Just after Spain, his native country, cancelled his engagements, he quickly walked back the apology, insisting in a new statement that "I have never behaved aggressively toward anyone."
Asked what he meant in his get-go statement most the rules irresolute, Domingo responded, ''The problem is that and then much time has passed. I must, what we are trying to exercise, is articulate my proper noun, above all for my family.''
He said he hopes he can smooth out what he sees as a misunderstanding with Castilian officials' responding to printing reports without speaking directly to him and then he tin can once over again perform in the state where his parents once ran the Zarzuela light opera house in Madrid.
Domingo said he sees his return to stages in the US every bit less likely. He forfeited his AGMA membership, saying he realised he no longer would exist welcome at New York's Metropolitan Opera or at LA Opera, which he helped found, and that he is likely to sing only through the 2022 and 2022 seasons.
"It's very sad for me not to be able to sing ... in the United States. I savour it and so much,'' Domingo said. "For over a half-century ... the public has been really, really extraordinary."
In Europe, Domingo has a full singing and conducting schedule for the fall, by and large concentrated in Italian republic, Germany and Republic of austria, that started with a Saturday concert in nearby Caserta, where he demonstrated that his vox had not been harmed by the virus.
''A concert like yesterday, or similar I am doing in Verona this week, is like shooting fish in a barrel. It is not a complete opera,'' Domingo said. ''I wonder how it volition be when I get to Vienna at the start of September to do a whole production. I don't know how nosotros will do the staging, or how close the singers will be. Nosotros don't have masks on, and we are making a large effort. It is going to exist very complicated.''
(Source: CNA/AP)
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/placido-domingo-opera-denies-abusing-power-seeks-to-clear-name-241096
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