Many in the opera world tell AP that legendary singer Placido Domingo sexually pursued young women with impunity. His response below. Read more:
FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001, file photo, Placido Domingo directs the Washington Opera Orchestra and Chorus during a rehearsal of Verdi's Requiem at Washington's Constitution Hall. Nine women in the opera world have told The Associated Press that they were sexually harassed by Domingo in encounters that took place over three decades, at venues that included the Washington Opera, the Los Angeles Opera and other opera companies.
But his accusers and others in the industry say there is a troubling side to Domingo — one they say has long been an open secret in the opera world. In addition to the nine accusers, a half-dozen other women told the AP that suggestive overtures by Domingo made them uncomfortable, including one singer who said he repeatedly asked her out on dates after hiring her to sing a series of concerts with him in the 1990s.
“However, I recognize that the rules and standards by which we are — and should be — measured against today are very different than they were in the past. I am blessed and privileged to have had a more than 50-year career in opera and will hold myself to the highest standards.” None of the women could offer documentation, such as phone messages, but the AP spoke to many colleagues and friends who they confided in. In addition, the AP independently verified that the women worked where they said they did and that Domingo overlapped with them at those locations.Two of the women said they briefly gave in to Domingo’s advances, feeling they couldn’t risk jeopardizing their careers by saying no to the most powerful man in their profession.
Domingo’s influence in the opera world is so great that Wulf was the only person among the dozens who talked to the AP who spoke on the record. And many of those who spoke did so reluctantly, fearing retribution but also not wanting to inflict collateral damage on the industry itself. After that incident, she said, Domingo started calling her at home frequently, although she had not given him her number. He told her she was a talented singer with a promising future and he wanted to help her.
Domingo was an artistic consultant at LA Opera in the 1980s when his stardom went mainstream. Newsweek magazine dubbed him “The King of The Opera” in a 1982 cover story and he appeared on popular television shows like “Sesame Street,” where a character, Placido Flamingo, was named for him. His collaboration in the “Three Tenors,” with the late Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, produced the best-selling classical recording of all time.
Singers and administrators would “smile and shrug,” she said. “Everybody would see me running around to avoid him and laugh it off. That’s how everybody dealt with Placido.” She said she had sex with Domingo on two occasions, at the Biltmore and at his Los Angeles apartment. “I don’t have a smoking gun,” she said, but “for somebody who was calling me and trying to see me every year, every time he was in town, to just never contact me again and never hire me again is pretty convenient.”The LA Opera announced in 1998 that Domingo would become its artistic director, after working for years as a consultant for the company.
From the beginning, the singer — who was 27 and just starting her career — said she felt panicked and trapped. He told her he had champagne and asked if he could come pick her up so they could celebrate the performance. In that moment, she said, she had “a feeling of impending doom” that “I wasn’t going to have an opera career if I didn’t give in.” So, she said, she reluctantly agreed.
The singer’s husband confirmed to the AP that she had told him at the time Domingo was persistently calling and that “eventually it was quite clear he was propositioning her.” When she confessed to what had happened with Domingo, the husband said her description of the star’s behavior persuaded him “that the only way to get out of it was to either give in — or give him a hard no and give up all concerns of your career.
Now 49 and retired, she said she is haunted by fears that submitting to Domingo had mitigated any wrongdoing on his part. Then 40, she had been hired to do two solo roles that year, first in a production of “The Magic Flute” and later in “Fedora,” which starred Domingo and the great Italian soprano Mirella Freni. The opportunity to work with such famous singers was a career high point, she said, but the experience quickly became a nightmare.
She said Domingo would often knock on her dressing room door uninvited and that she feared leaving the room if he was in the hallway. Wulf recalled the compassion of a male colleague who offered to stand up for her if she wanted to report him. “They’re not going to fire him — they’ll fire me,” she remembered telling him.
“In the beginning, I wasn’t scared. I thought I could handle it,” she said, noting that he was persistent but not physically aggressive.“The whole premise was ridiculous: Why would Placido Domingo not have a ride home?” she said. “But what was I going to do?” He told her, “I’ve been trying to get you to work on this aria with me for weeks. I really want to hear you sing this role. Can you come to my apartment and we’ll run through this aria?”“It sounds crazy to say, but it felt like he had invested so much time in this pursuit that he was annoyed with me,” she said. “I felt like I have dragged this out and avoided him for six weeks and he is Placido and he is my boss and he is offering to work with me on this role.
“I’ve been hard on myself for a while,” the singer said. “Having a coaching session with somebody who offers you coaching is not consenting to sex.”A dancer who worked with the superstar in several cities began recounting her experiences with him by stating, “My story is exceptionally common.” “When you’re working for the most powerful man in the opera, you try to play ball,” she said, adding that she was careful to never insult him and tried to appeal to his ego.
An opera employee who worked closely with Domingo said she found him gentlemanly and respectful, but confirmed that the dancer had complained of being harassed by the superstar for years. She said the dancer told her what happened in Domingo’s hotel room, adding that her impression was that “even though he was persistent, he did take no for an answer.”“There were years when I was a wreck about it and scared that I’d never be hired again,” the dancer said.
“At that point, I was enamored with the whole situation and excited to meet this really famous person with an amazing voice,” she said. “Then I started getting phone calls.” One evening at intermission, she said, Domingo knocked on her dressing room door and they chatted about the performance before he moved to kiss her goodbye.
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