Two more women speak out against Charles Dutoit

The French soprano Anne-Sophie Schmidt and the British theatre administrator Fiona Allan have spoken out, alleging that they were sexually molested by the conductor Charles Dutoit.

Schmidt, who published an account on her Facebook page just before Christmas, has given an extended interview to a newspaper in her native Alsace.

She relates that Dutoit pestered her for sex after casting her as Mélisande in Paris in March 1995. He pushed her up against a wall, forcibly kissed her and groped her breasts. After she summoned her husband to be constantly on the scene, Dutoit cancelled all further engagements with her. She did not go to the police at the time, fearing a negative impact on her career.

Fiona Allan, who previously wrote to Slipped Disc about an experience at Tanglewood, has now given an interview to the Boston Globe. She said: ‘I’m 6 foot tall, I’m not small, I’m not easily maneuverable. But he had somehow maneuvered me up against a wall and had put his hand on my breast. That in itself was shocking and surprising. But I think what shocked and surprised me equally to this was the sense of . . . entitlement. It was like I was this decorative thing that had come to his dressing room that he somehow felt entitled to touch.’

Dutoit has denied accusations of forced physical contact and is consulting his lawyers.