“I stuck to no — ‘No, I won't meet you. No, I won’t go with you upstairs to your apartment. No, no, no.” Soprano accuses opera superstar Placido Domingo of harassing her, grabbing her breast. Read the story and his response here:
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1999 file photo, Placido Domingo acknowledges the audience after receiving the 1999 Hispanic Heritage Award at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. An evening before a performance of “Le Cid,” part of the Washington Opera’s 1999-2000 season, opera singer Angela Turner Wilson said she and Domingo were having their makeup done together when he rose from his chair, stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
“It hurt,” she told The Associated Press. “It was not gentle. He groped me hard.” She said Domingo then turned and walked away, leaving her stunned and humiliated. Taken together, their stories reinforce a picture of an industry in which Domingo’s behavior was an open secret and young women were left to fend for themselves in the workplace.“The ongoing 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,” spokeswoman Nancy Seltzer said.
Melinda McLain, who was the production coordinator at LA Opera for its inaugural season in 1986-87 and also worked at the Houston Grand Opera with Domingo, told the AP she made it a point not to put Domingo in rehearsal rooms alone with young female singers, even if he specifically requested it, and also tried to supply him with male dressers.
“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 behavior,” said one employee who requested anonymity because she is still in the opera industry and fears repercussions. She said Domingo was known for “getting too close, hugging, kissing, touching and being physically affectionate.”
One established soprano said she feared not only for herself but for her husband, who also works in opera. Others spoke of wanting to protect an art form that is struggling to remain relevant in the U.S. And some said vocal support for Domingo in Europe — and skepticism of the women’s accusations — has made them more fearful of coming forward publicly.
Some of the women told the AP that avoidance strategies included asking Domingo about his grandchildren to distract him and giggling awkwardly and pretending they didn’t quite understand when he asked for their phone numbers or suggested they meet somewhere. Wulf told the AP that Domingo would confront her night after night when they performed together with the same whispered question, uttered very close to her face: ”‘Patricia, do you have to go home tonight?’”
There were frequent invitations, Wilson said — to come to his apartment to watch a video of a role he wanted her to sing. To go to dinner. Just the two of them. “I said, ‘I’ll make you a deal. You can kiss my cheek’ So he kissed me on my cheek. And then he left. And it scared me so badly. I went back to my dressing table and was shaking. I remember thinking, ‘Now I’m in trouble. How am I going to manage him now?’”
She said she called her husband and her parents that night — and also the night he tried to kiss her — and all three confirmed to the AP that she was upset and in tears when she related to them what happened. “Anybody who gets ‘singer of the year’ at that company or any company looks at it as a ticket to a relationship with that company,” she said. “It’s saying you have done good work and deserve to come back. It’s not usually a farewell.”
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