Los Angeles: Legendary opera singer Placido Domingo, who is facing myriad sexual harassment accusations, has resigned as general director of the Los Angeles Opera.
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“Recent accusations that have been made against me in the press have created an atmosphere in which my ability to serve this company that I so love has been compromised,” Domingo, 78, wrote in a statement to AFP on Wednesday.
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“While I will continue to work to clear my name, I have decided that it is in the best interests of LA Opera for me to resign as its general director and withdraw from my future scheduled performances at this time.
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“I do so with a heavy heart and at the same time wish to convey to the company’s dedicated board and hard-working staff my deepest wishes that the LA Opera continue to grow and excel.”
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The LA Opera issued a statement thanking the legendary singer, who has been at the helm of the institution since 2003, and crediting him for cultural contributions to the city that are “unprecedented and profound.”
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His resignation comes a week after Domingo announced that he was withdrawing from all performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
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The 11th-hour decision came just one night before the Spaniard dubbed the “King of Opera” was scheduled to perform the title role in the Met’s sold-out first production of “Macbeth.”
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In August, eight singers and a dancer told the Associated Press about incidents going back to the 1980s, including one in which a woman said Domingo put his hand down her skirt while three others said he forcibly kissed them.
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A subsequent report by the US news agency cited 11 more women, including one who said he reached down her robe to grab her bare breast.
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The reports painted a portrait of a man who acted with impunity, shielded by his power as one of opera’s foremost stars, as a whisper network formed warning women of his alleged reputation.
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