After a nearly 51-year partnership, famous singer Plácido Domingo and The Metropolitan Opera (or The Met) have officially parted ways.
The legendary New York City-based opera company revealed the news on Tuesday, as reported by the Associated Press.
“The Met and Domingo are in agreement that he needed to step down,” said the Met, in an official statement.
Though he’s denied the allegations, Domingo, 78, reportedly agreed to withdraw from all of his upcoming performances with the establishment after being accused of sexual harassment by several women.
Before pulling out, Domingo was set to perform three nights as the lead in the Met’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth, starting on Wednesday evening. The shows would have been his first U.S. performances since the allegations initially surfaced.
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Since August — after a multitude of alleged victims came forward claiming Domingo had sexually harassed them — a number of additional women have come forward with further allegations against the singer.
Angela Turner Wilson was one of those women. Now 48, the singer claimed that at the age of 28, she was groped by Domingo in the privacy of a makeup room at the Met.
Wilson claimed that the supposed criminal stood behind her, put his hands on her shoulders and then reached down into her robe and grabbed her bare breast beneath the strap of her bra.
“It hurt,” she told the Associated Press.
“It was not gentle. He groped me hard.”
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On the Met’s decision to let go of Domingo, Wilson admitted she was “relieved,” adding that she still had concerns about a statement issued by general manager Peter Gelb, who claimed that the Met could not act on allegations without corroborated evidence.
Another of Domingo’s accusers, Patricia Wulf, also called the withdrawal a relief.
“The Met finally stepped up and did the right thing,” she said, adding, “I feel like we accomplished something.”
Wulf accused Domingo of repeatedly harassing her during performances at Washington Opera in the late 1990s, when he was general director of the company.
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Domingo himself issued a statement following the recent news, highlighting his career at the Met moreso than addressing the allegations which he denies.
He joined the company at the age of 27 in Sept. 1968 and since then achieved the record for the most opera performances ever.
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The statement read: “While I strongly dispute recent allegations made about me, and I am concerned about a climate in which people are condemned without due process, upon reflection, I believe that my appearance in this production of Macbeth would distract from the hard work of my colleagues both on stage and behind the scenes.”
“As a result,” continued Domibgo, “I have asked to withdraw, and I thank the leadership of the Met for graciously granting my request.”
He concluded that he would not be returning to the company and that he considers the last dress rehearsal for Macbeth his “last performance on the Met stage.”
— With files from the Associated Press
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