Met Opera Accuses James Levine of Decades of Sexual Misconduct
Met Opera Accuses James Levine of Decades of Sexual Misconduct
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James Levine, then the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, and Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, at a news conference in 2006.CreditHenny Ray Abrams/Associated Press
Two months ago, the conductor James Levine, having been fired by the Metropolitan Opera for sexual misconduct, sued the company for breach of contract and defamation. Now the Met is suing him back, arguing in court papers filed on Friday that Mr. Levine harmed the company, and detailing previously unreported accusations of sexual harassment and abuse against him. The filing paints the clearest picture yet of the investigation that led the Met to dismiss Mr. Levine, its longtime music director and its artistic backbone for more than four decades. The company says it found credible evidence that Mr. Levine had “used his reputation and position of power to prey upon and abuse artists,” citing examples of sexual misconduct that it says occurred from the 1970s through 1999, but does not name the victims.
When a 16-year-old artist auditioned for Mr. Levine in 1979, the suit says, Mr. Levine questioned him about his sex life. Two years later, it says, Mr. Levine entered the young man’s dressing room in a bathrobe to discuss an upcoming performance. Mr. Levine made sexual remarks or inappropriately touched the man at least seven times over a period of 12 years, the suit says. After Mr. Levine offered to drive another singer home from an audition at the Met in 1985, the lawsuit says, he locked the car doors and groped and kissed the man against his will. After the encounter, it says, Mr. Levine placed him in “in a prestigious program” at the Met. The lawsuit also describes inappropriate conversations that Mr. Levine initiated with another artist in 1989 about masturbation, pornography and penis size, and a failed attempt by Mr. Levine in 1994 to get a man to accompany him to a restroom at the opera house to watch him masturbate.
In addition to serving as the Met’s music director and later music director emeritus, Mr. Levine oversaw the company’s prestigious young artist development program, which can serve as a career springboard. In 1999, the lawsuit says, Mr. Levine inappropriately touched one of its members on his knees, legs and hands. About a year later, it says, he invited the young artist into his dressing room “to engage in sexual activity.”
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The Met’s new filing cites seven accusations of misconduct by Mr. Levine, five of which have not been previously reported. The other two men have already shared their accounts publicly and Mr. Levine has denied their accusations: James Lestock, a cellist who said he was abused for years beginning when he was a student of Mr. Levine’s; and Ashok Pai, who said that he was abused by Mr. Levine beginning when he was 16. Nine men in total have come forward with accusations of harassment or abuse.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/arts/music/james-levine-metropolitan-opera.html