Placido Domingo Returns to Opera Stage After Sexual Harassment Allegations
Concerning
Opera star Placido Domingo will return to the stage for the first time Sunday since nine women accused him of sexual harassment. Domingo, 78, has received full support from Salzburg Festival management ahead of Sunday’s performance of Verdi’s “Luisa Miller.” Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler confirmed Domingo’s performance Sunday in a statement. “I would find it wrong and morally reprehensible to make irreversible judgments at this point, and to base decisions on such judgments,” she wrote. Rabl-Stadler added that “had the accusations against him been voiced inside the Festspielhaus in Salzburg, I am sure I would have heard of it.” Two opera houses in the U.S. have canceled performances with Domingo, however, no European opera houses have taken Domingo off the schedule. A report from the AP published last week detailed accusations from nine women that Domingo abused his power as the director at the Los Angeles Opera to pressure them into sexual relationships. Domingo has called the allegations “deeply troubling.”