First pic: Domingo in Salzburg rehearsal

First pic: Domingo in Salzburg rehearsal

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norman lebrecht

August 20, 2019

Nino Machaidze posted this tonight:

Here we are, Salzburg Festival’s “Luisa Miller” family, happy after fantastic first Orchestra rehearsal 💖 This Opera is a real piece of magic and I’m always incredibly happy to sing this role, especially when the colleagues are such amazing people and incredible musicians, as well as great friends and wonderful human beings 🤗

James Conlon conducts.

All that is missing from the message is FU #Me2

Comments

  • Caravaggio says:

    Such an obvious bunch of Domingo groupies, loyalists and careerists, willing to look away from their idol’s unsavory behavior to earn his graces and more open doors. For shame.

    • Paul Brownsey says:

      ARE they “an obvious bunch of Domingo groupies, loyalists and careerists”? How can you tell? They just look like people to me.

  • MusicBear88 says:

    “All that is missing is FU #Me2”

    For crying out loud, when a man in this business is accused of harassment or sexual misconduct, this forum lights up with defense for them. “What happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty?” some cry, and “I worked with him and he seemed to be a perfectly lovely man.” People scream that #MeToo is destroying the musical world.

    Then somebody is accused and the sound isn’t a bang, but a whimper, but because it’s a person that many of us feel has overstayed his welcome on stage it’s “why isn’t anybody taking this seriously?!”

    I suppose I should be thankful that it wasn’t Gustavo Dudamel…

  • Olga says:

    Great news! Good luck!

  • David Hilton says:

    Quando le sere al Placido

  • Marshall says:

    Isn’t that James Conlon, music director in LA, next to Domingo? Did he not get the memo from the folks at LA opera re Domingo? One hopes he is ignoring it!

  • Mustafa Kandan says:

    It is undeniable #Me2 movement have had some beneficial effects. Yet, as with everything else that has its origins in the USA, it comes with a heavy cost. In this case hysteria, lack of balance & fair process, and ultimately a climate of fear & persecution.

    • Edgar says:

      You are absolutely right. Ronnie Reagan did away with mental health care in the US, and the bit that is left over isn’t even remotely capable of accommodating the vast need. Which makes, among many other serious things, the capacity to distinguish between truth and falsehood most precarious. Everyone is everyone’s judge now, in these DisUnited States of America… Climate of fear and prosecution has become reality (check out the fake Boston Globe front page from April 9, 2017 – it is eerily prescient).

  • Cyril says:

    Yes but notice how she won’t stand next to him …

    • guest says:

      Won’t and isn’t have completely different meanings in English. If you don’t have knowledge that she refused to stand next to Domingo that stop the BS.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      And why would you assume it was a deliberate choice on her part?

    • Paul Brownsey says:

      You don’t know that she won’t stand next to him. You just made that up.

      She isn’t standing next to him but that doesn’t mean she won’t.

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    Let’s stop all that nonsense. Mr. Plácido “Benigno” Domingo did not force himself on women. He just made proposals that many would kill for, and if they unexpectedly said ‘No’ he backed off. However, since Mr. Domingo had a genuine interest in the women, and they could have misunderstood his real intentions, thus he wanted to be sure of the ‘Nos’ and they got a new chance – in some cases five or six new chances. It was very generous of him indeed. Keep on with the good work! (By the way, is that “Luisa” redhead or brunette?)

    • Emil says:

      This is literally the Don Giovanni defense:
      “Love is much the same in any form. He who
      remains faithful to one is being cruel to the others;
      I, who have an overabundance of sentiment, love
      them all. Since women cannot think clearly, they
      call my natural, kindly feelings betrayal.”

      Poor Plácido, he’s just too generous, too kind, too loving, and misunderstood. The harassment is just a big misunderstanding.
      Embarrassing, really.

    • Anonimo says:

      This is not about “forcing himself” on women.
      It’s about harassment – creating a climate of pervasive sexual innuendo or comments, especially when the one doing the commenting and come-ons is in a position of power or influence.

      How would you feel if, in your workplace, there were a person who repeatedly … let’s say, invited you to go to a movie. Over and over again. Corners you by the photocopy machine to ask again. Approaches you after meetings to ask again. Each time, you say “no” or even “no thank you” — you just don’t want to. (And that should be reason enough to say no!) After 5 or 6 (to quote PD) times, or 8 or 10 or 20 times, you just might feel harassed! (Wow, maybe that’s why they call it harassment!!)

      Now imagine that this person who will not stop harassing you is your boss, or another person of influence who has some say in your career. It gets harder to say “no” when your career might be hurt.

      Now add a sexual element — not just “can I take to lunch” but “let me take you to a movie and then how about if you come over to my place and by the way I love how your pants fit…” over and over again.

      That’s what this is about.

      I expect that those of you who are so quick to defend harassers have never been on the receiving end.

      No one is entitled to impose him or herself on another person in this way. And nothing – not talent, not power, not influence, not box-office potential, not fame, nor the fact that other people say “oh dear” – changes this fact.

      And the reason for #MeToo is that PEOPLE ARE SICK OF THIS SELFISH BEHAVIOR. And those of you who make excuses for boorish behavior are the ones who make the boors feel entitled to do what they want. You are part of the problem.

      • Patricia says:

        Bravo! Chapeau!! Thanks!!

      • Mick the Knife says:

        Thats me, a boor and I feel insulted. Your problem is that you are not practicing inclusivity because you are preaching the marginalization of boors. I believe that you are also racist because you use the boors as scapegoats and you obviously feel superior to boors, simply because they are boorish. What is needed is a Boorish Studies Department to highlight the accomplishments of Boors everywhere!

    • Nick2 says:

      If you had read my comments in earlier threads, you would know he did not always back off – and that escaping from his advances could take quite some time! And the case I referred to was with a young lady in the administrative staff of an opera company. Not a young singer.

  • Gustavo says:

    What a con!

  • Cordula says:

    “All that is missing is FU #Me2”
    That comment is disgusting.
    Thanks to all of those who give a fuck about #MeToo.

  • Cantantelirico says:

    Little Jimmy should have called in sick on this one. Can you say “conflict of interest”?

  • Jason S. says:

    I think the L.A. Opera, in their “investigation” of the alleged sexual harassment claims against Domingo, needs to discern exactly the context of the complaints. If Domingo simply made advances toward the various women, then that is not necessarily harassment. If he said “sleep with me and you can sing Tosca next season here at the L.A. Opera”, then that is sexual harassment. If he used his position as general director to gain sexual favors, that is sexual abuse and harassment. They need to clarify his actions.

    • david hilton says:

      I’m not so sure. Your hypothetical — “sleep with me and you can sing Tosca next season here at the L.A. Opera” — is classic ‘casting couch’ behaviour; familiar to all the performing arts, Hollywood in particular. But is that alone sexual harrassment? Not under US law. Those are usually instances where the offer is “If you don’t sleep with me, you will lose your job.” The law obviously COULD be amended to cast such a wide net that casting couch offers were now to be considered illegal. But they have not so far been the basis for lawsuits and dismissals. Cases that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (where Clarence Thomas met Anita Hill) would prosecute need to involve patterns of widespread and abusive conduct sufficient to demonstrate an abusive workplace environment.

  • lohengrinloh says:

    It takes two to tango.

    • Patricia says:

      No, actually it doesn’t. When you are robbed, maybe you give everything you have, and that doesn’t mean you want to be robbed. It only mean you are scared, or want to prevent further damage.

    • Ed says:

      Tango is sexy but it´s not sex.

      • Gustavo says:

        We cannot deny anisogamy.

        Males can waste their sperm, compete over females and resources with other males and are on permanent stand-by and opportunistic.

        Females have a limited amount of gametes, depend on resources for developing offspring and cannot afford to be opportunistic.

        This is why the female sex is the choosy “tango partner” and wants to be asked, and usually doesn’t want to be rushed into a pair bond nor forced to copulate.

        #MeToo seems quite natural.

        So does male dominant behaviour with all its extremes.

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