SWITZERLAND (CelebrityAccess) Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit is expected to conduct a concert for the National Orchestra of France on Sunday, despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
The orchestra said in a statement to the Associated Press that Dutoit was only available candidate to conduct Berlioz’ “The Damnation Of Faust” at the Paris Philarmonie because the scheduled conductor pulled out because of medical reasons and Dutoit is a Berlioz expert.
The orchestra would not comment on the allegations but said the decision to hire him was discussed with the musicians, according to the AP.
“This is shameful. I feel sick to my stomach,” accuser Anne-Sophie Schmidt told the AP. “This means the people who were abused by this evil man don’t count for anything.”
Schmidt, a retired French soprano, said she was shocked by the decision. She was one of six new accusers in January 2018 and said Dutoit raped her in 1988 and pushed her against the wall and groped her in 1985.
Canadian soprano Pauline Vaillancourt told the AP Dutoit, after taking her to dinner, stopped a car he was driving to grope her breasts and other body parts. Canadian musician Mary Lou Basaraba said when she was in her early 20, when Dutoit interviewed her for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, put his hands on her breasts and crotch and tried to kiss her as she sat on his sofa. Pianist Jenny Chai said she was attacked when attending a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra in the early 2000s,
