Compassion might be the best answer to the muck and the mire that will unfold as part of this and future stories. It is cold-feet season in the upper echelons of classical music!
The New York Post reported yesterday that the legendary opera conductor James Levine has, as per a police report, “molested [a] teen for years”. Almost on cue the classical music community, which had watched the waves of accusations, allegations, admissions, unveilings of the last months (and for which “Harvey Weinstein” is now a byword), responded either with: “What’s new” or “And so it begins.” Everyone in the industry has either heard gossip of that nature – not just Levine, but across the whole industry and through all strata – or experienced incidents in that realm outright.
[tweet_quote display="Rumors were always rife as regards James Levine. So much so, that, barring any proof, they were considered gospel."]Rumors have always been rife with regards to James Levine’s predilections and alleged actions. So much so, that, even barring any proof, they were considered gospel in the industry.[/tweet_quote] All that was needed, in conversation, was a knowing nod and the faintest mention of a boy chorister. Usually, this was accompanied by talk or insinuation of the whole thing being covered up and hush-hushed. Now it will come to the surprise of no one if tiny skeletons come tumbling out of James Levine’s closet like candy from a piñata. At the same time, if any and all of those accusations were to be untrue, no one would stop for a second to consider that an allegation is hardly proof.
We are deeply disturbed by the news articles that are being published online today about James Levine. We are working on an investigation w outside resources to determine whether charges of sexual misconduct in the 1980s are true, so that we can take appropriate action.— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) December 3, 2017
Full article at Forbes: The Grand Moral Reckoning, Classical Edition. James Levine In The Soup
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