A message from the young singer who was hit by his conductor
NewsWe have received this communication from agents for William Thomas, the young bass singer who was slapped and punched by the conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner after a performance on Tuesday night:
We can confirm that an incident took place after Tuesday’s performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir at La Côte-Saint-André.
Bass William Thomas is looking forward to continuing the tour with performances in Salzburg, Versailles, Berlin and at the BBC Proms, and will not be making a statement at this time.
All musicians deserve the right to practise their art in an environment free from abuse or physical harm.
Askonas Holt
So basically ‘No message from the young singer etc etc’
He will go down in history as the bass who was hit by…le chef d’orchestre révolutionnaire et agressif.
and you’ll go down in history as….
Nevermind – keep posting here 😉
But will he ever come up again??!! 🙂
“will not … at this time”
???
Why the hell didn’t Mr. Thomas give Jeggy a damn good left hook? I would’ve done precisely that. It would serve the old cretin right.
It *would* serve him right, but Mr. Thomas probably realized that a fit 29-year-old socking an octogenarian is not a good look.
Not just musos ! For to many years the support staff have also been victims of abuse and bullying not just by conductors but musos and senior management !
Remember, it’s not libel if it’s true. Do you have the cojones to speak up? My money is no.
Tell us then, or are you going to continue being complicit in the abuse?
No surprise there then.
I am feeling sorry for the singer, this should not have happened ever! A public apology should be given and that pronto.
Why the hell didn’t Mr. Thomas give Jeggy a damn good left hook? I would’ve don
Because he’s such an old man exhibiting symptoms of dementia.
The lack of a statement suggests that he may be pressing charges against Gardiner. Since there were witnesses, he’d probably have a good chance at collecting £££ in court.
More like £££££ …
Jiggy can certainly afford it. Might need to sell a few cows.
This whole thing will go no further than this will blow over. Musicians are conditioned to think that if they put their head above the parapet they won’t work again. This won’t be the change that it could be because those who are also complicit in the abuse, read ‘agents’, won’t advise WT to take it further. Askonas Holt could actually do an amazing thing for the industry, but they will be too cowardly to do it.
That’s exactly what will happen. The agency has other singers and doesn’t want to loose commission on their future engagements. That is why this has been continuing in similar fashion with plenty of other genius musicians. They are surrounded by admirers who don’t give them an honest feedback about their unacceptable behaviour. Living in this bubble they simply believe that as long as no one “punches back” everything is ok.What they gain in musical geniality they loose in human decency. As long as agencies exhibit a limp noodle instead of a backbone and musicians are quiet accomplices for fear of loosing work we can only continue to admire the genius….
Genius? Pull the other one. He’s a privileged boomer with as much talent as the majority of conductors out there. Maybe my sarcasm detection is rusty on this one.
I had also heard that some time in the past, Gardiner had assaulted a trumpet player. So he is now going to see a doctor. Perhaps a psychiatrist? As an amateur singer currently singing with a top class chorus, I don’t think I would like to work with him.
Is there any chance a punch in the gob will improve his appalling French, wobbly vibrato and hollow tone? A 29 year old who sounds 59!
I simply don’t understand why Slipped Disc publishes this kind of utterly vicious comments.
Free speech – though I agree that the original comment was atrocious.
Like a lot of people, you misunderstand the meaning of free speech.
Mr. William Thomas does not have a wobble, nor hollow tone. If you think he sounds 59, you need your ears checked. I am frequently astounded by the mean-spirited comments here on SD!
I quite agree..
you are one of these clowns who love to hear mediocre voices. I am almost happy for the hit, now I know this very good voice of that young man. Well done so far !
Mildly amusing Sanity in an ‘insane’ way. But I heard young Will Thomas in the Cardiff Singer of the World- a fantastic singer of great potential- with a lovely voice & no ‘hollow tone’ to my ears.
Oh dear. How sad for you and us that you feel the need to post something like this.
Would you do this under your own name? Whatever the case it is well worth going away and reflecting on your behaviour.
Pray do specify what a “french” vibrato is, unless it’s just the usual francophobia frequently displayed on this site…
…sorry folks, just realized my misreading (“French” relates to language, not vibrato). Not that it makes Sanity’s post any better…
If I could rid the classical music landscape of one thing, it would be self-regarding pompous asses who, in spite of their own abject lack of musical accomplishment, seem to think that the world needs their unfailingly critical opinions.
Come on! It’s at least assault and battery and God knows what else! SUE the old bastard and become the most famous in musical history!
Just appalled by the viciousness of this post. Singers, whether 29 or 59, are always having to learn, rethink, develop. But at 29, a bass, he is still very young, and surely deserving of constructive and positive help, not least because he’s just been through something utterly traumatic. The eighty year old ( going on eight) has a mighty learning curve. Never too late!!! Let’s hope! And let’s have kindness instead of nastiness.
People in this industry have to retire before it retires you.
who in their right mind would
still work at 80
To Henry Williams: Well, probably nearly everybody with a passion, a knowledge…and a good enough health.
As Jordi Savall said once, why retire if you do what you love and you are fit enough to do it (and if the public is more than happy to listen to you).
“Farmer from Devon assaults opera singer”
Dorset.
I would be more sympathetic if the “young singer” was not guilty of the same, and worse.
I’m no fan of Jeggy! I doubt he would’ve got anywhere in music were it not for the fact that he had a famous father. Like that other charlatan, Norrington, I wish them both a long retirement. Jeggy conducts everything as if he’s got a tractor to catch and calls his approach ‘authentic’ without any proof. He’s a con-man, in my humble opinion! I hope Mr Thomas does whatever he thinks necessary. Maybe he should invade Jeggy’s farm with other singers in a giant wooden horse.
Can someone please please at AH ask WT about the nightclub incident? This is the pot calling the kettle black! Other singers like myself don’t want to risk reputation but this is sheet hypocrisy!
Prigs United out in force! Who has never at one time in his life not done something he later felt ashamed of?
If I punched and slapped somebody at work, I’d be signing on the day after.
Of course no one has lived a life free of bad judgments they later regret. But when those choices affect others, there are consequences. It’s not ‘priggish’ to expect not to be thumped at work.
The most sensible comment I’ve read so far. For many commentators I would simply say ‘Zip it and get on with your lives.
Do not forget…
A singer is always at the end of the payroll of an operacompany
I hope he gets a MASSIVE settlement, in lieu of suing. He should have punched and knocked out that bastard monster.
Sunday afternoon, BBC 3, Young Artists, Lieder Recital etc. Schubert Du bist die Ruh, a challenge for even the most gifted technically proficient singer.
Result. As sung by this “musical artist’ (and I question that description which is loosely tossed around now days) grindingly tedious and earth bound. This Goethe hymn to philosophical consolation with it’s uplifting words and sublime setting was rote sung in the usual stentorian stand and deliver English manner more suited to a West End musical than the intimate platform of a Liederabend.
Radio off. Once again Radio 3 you disappoint.