Eight singers and a dancer allege Domingo, who is recognized as a prolific conductor and the director of the Los Angeles Opera, sexually harassed them in encounters that took place over three decades beginning in the late 1980s.
For decades, Placido Domingo, one of the most celebrated and powerful men in opera, has tried to pressure women into sexual relationships by dangling jobs and then sometimes punishing the women professionally when they refused his advances, numerous accusers toldRegarded as one of the greatest opera singers of all time, Domingo also is a prolific conductor and the director of the Los Angeles Opera.
"A business lunch is not strange," said one of the singers. "Somebody trying to hold your hand during a business lunch is strange — or putting their hand on your knee is a little strange. He was always touching you in some way, and always kissing you." "Still, it is painful to hear that I may have upset anyone or made them feel uncomfortable — no matter how long ago and despite my best intentions. I believed that all of my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual. People who know me or who have worked with me know that I am not someone who would intentionally harm, offend, or embarrass anyone.
The accusers' stories lay out strikingly similar patterns of behavior that included Domingo persistently contacting them — often calling them repeatedly at home late at night — expressing interest in their careers and urging them to meet him privately for a drink or a meal, or at his apartment or hotel room, under the guise of offering professional advice.
The dancer called her avoidance technique "the bob and weave, the giggle and get out," and one soprano labeled it "walking the tightrope." During a rehearsal of "Tales of Hoffman," she was selected to kiss Domingo in an orgy scene. She said she remembers wiping his saliva off her face from a sloppy, wet kiss after which he whispered in her ear, "I wish we weren't on stage."
Over the course of the next three years, she said, he was uncomfortably affectionate, slipping a hand around her waist when they crossed backstage or giving her a kiss on the cheek a bit too close to the mouth. He knew the key codes for the dressing rooms and would enter uninvited, she said, which she said she assumed was to catch her undressed.
She said she didn't report his behavior because "that just wasn't done" and also feared any misstep could kill her career. In 1991, she said, "I finally gave in and slept with him. I ran out of excuses. It was like, 'OK, I guess this is what I have to do.'" She cut off physical contact after the second encounter, a move she is convinced derailed her career at LA Opera.
During one of his frequent uninvited visits to her dressing room, he admired her costume, leaning forward to kiss her cheeks and placing one hand on the side of her breast, she said. After one performance, the singer said she went home and answered the phone, her heart sinking when she heard Domingo's voice.
Domingo continued to pursue her in the days and weeks after, she said, calling her repeatedly. "I felt like prey. I felt like I was being hunted by him," she said."I was not prepared for how much it would mess with my confidence, and my feeling shame about it and wondering who knew and if they thought that's why I got an opportunity or a role," she said. "I started to doubt my own talent and skills.
The singer said that once Domingo took over control of casting decisions at the LA Opera, he never hired her again. At first, she said, she nervously laughed off Domingo's remarks, even though she considered them offensive. But when he persisted, she made her position clear.It was 1998 and Wulf's career was taking off at the Washington Opera, where Domingo served as artistic director from 1996-2003 and general director from 2003-2011.
"But," she added, "you also think as soon as you walk away and get away, you think, 'Did I just ruin my career?' And that went on through that entire production.""It got to a point that I would come off stage and try to slither behind a pillar, and he would still find a way to get to me," she said. Lew told the AP that he would ask his wife after each performance, "Did it happen again? Did he say the same thing?" He added that "at a certain point, we didn't have to ask. You could just tell by how upset she was."
Wulf said she is speaking out because the silence about what she called the "well-known secret" of Domingo's behavior has stretched on too long. "I'm stepping forward because I hope that it can help other women come forward, or be strong enough to say no," she said.Another singer who worked in Los Angeles in the mid-2000s told the AP that she already knew of Domingo's reputation when he took an extreme interest in her career.
Several weeks later, she said, Domingo approached her on a night that he knew she was scheduled to stay late. Since then, she has sung at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera and elsewhere, but has never again been hired to sing at the Los Angeles house or with Domingo. She said she would wonder to her husband: "'Does he understand the risk he's putting me in, that he could wreck my marriage, wreck my career? Does he understand what he's doing here?' But he didn't care."
A former opera administrator said he was aware for years that Domingo was "constantly chasing" the dancer. And a conductor who is friends with the dancer said he recalled after she "said no to Domingo, she had the rug pulled out for several years." She remembered walking into the hotel lobby and telling a clerk that she was meeting Placido Domingo. She was led up to the roof, where a private table was set up and Domingo emerged dressed in an elaborate costume-like robe and a billowy white shirt, with a beautiful, young brunette on his arm.
She remembers feeling elated when he praised her singing, taking her face in his hands after one performance and telling her, "You have moved me. Your performance moved me." He was artistic director at both the Washington and LA operas and told her, "I'm going to find work for you. . I do many concerts. And I ask my favorite singers to join me."
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