Placido Domingo accused of sexual harassment gives up singing at the Royal Opera House in London

Placido Domingo prefers to withdraw from the scene. Accused of sexual harassment, the Spanish lyric singer, has given up singing in several performances of Don Carlo scheduled for July at the Royal Opera House in London, as announced by the institution on March 6.

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"The Royal Opera House and Placido Domingo have decided by mutual agreement that it will withdraw from the upcoming performances of Don Carlo , scheduled for July 2020," the British institution announced in a statement. The latter specified "not having received a complaint" against him concerning their collaboration. "We understand the reasons which pushed him to withdraw," assured the opera, saluting an "exceptional singer and artist" .

The replacement for the tenor, who became baritone with age, in the three performances of Verdi's opera, where he was to play the Marquis de Posa, will be announced later.

Touching and inappropriate behavior

The 79-year-old artist is accused of sexual harassment by about twenty women in the United States, for facts dating back to the late 1980s. According to surveys published in August and September by the Associated Press agency, they accuse of touching, forced kissing and inappropriate remarks, and of having damaged their career if they refused.

Artistic director then general of the Washington National Opera between 1996 and 2011, he was notably accused of having continued singing in this institution. He had asked for forgiveness at the end of February from the women who accused him, before specifying two days later that he still rejected the accusations against him, however. Since then, the Spanish Ministry of Culture had decided to cancel the artist's participation in performances in May at the National Theater of Zarzuela, "in solidarity with the women concerned."

Placido Domingo had himself given up singing in La Traviata at the Royal Theater in Madrid. "In addition, I will withdraw from performances in theaters and companies that would have difficulty meeting these commitments," he said in a statement.

The tenor's career had already taken a hit in the United States, where he had to give up the post of director general of the Los Angeles Opera in the fall. An independent investigation - commissioned by the American Union of Opera Artists - concluded that Placido Domingo had engaged in "inappropriate behavior in the past , ranging from flirting to sexual advances, inside and outside the workplace. "