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LONDON (AP) — Outstanding classical music conductor John Eliot Gardiner is pulling out of all engagements till subsequent yr after allegedly hitting a singer backstage following a live performance.
The British conductor mentioned in a press release Thursday that he was stepping again to get “the specialist assist I acknowledge that I’ve wanted for a while.” His company, Intermusica, mentioned he “deeply regrets his conduct” and intends to get counseling.
“I wish to apologize to colleagues who’ve felt badly handled and anybody who could really feel let down by my resolution to take outing to handle my points. I’m heartbroken to have prompted a lot misery, and I’m decided to study from my errors,” he mentioned.
Gardiner, 80, allegedly hit William Thomas after the bass singer left the rostrum on the incorrect aspect after a efficiency of Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens” on the Competition Berlioz in La Cote-Saint-Andre, southeastern France.
U.Okay. newspaper The Occasions reported that the conductor confronted Thomas after the present and slapped him within the face. The report mentioned Gardiner additionally punched Thomas within the mouth and threatened to throw a glass of beer over his head.
Thomas’ administration firm, Askonas Holt, confirmed final week that “an incident” occurred. “All musicians deserve the fitting to follow their artwork in an atmosphere free from abuse or bodily hurt,” it mentioned in a press release.
Gardiner is a Grammy-winning baroque music conductor who led his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a efficiency for friends at King Charles III’s coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in Could. He was knighted for his providers to music in 1998.
He has made greater than 60 appearances on the BBC Proms, an annual summer season classical music extravaganza. It was introduced final week that Gardiner might be changed at a Proms efficiency on Sept. 3.
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