Sing Domingo Sing! Go to the Met and Sing!
Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center
By Carol Jean Delmar
Opera Theater Ink
Now that the press is running with the NPR story, another article has come out on Opera Wire about the poor women in the chorus who feel awkward with Plácido Domingo onstage at the Metropolitan Opera before his opening of “Macbeth” with Anna Netrebko on Wednesday (Sept. 25). The women are expressing how they feel during rehearsals, and they don’t want to share the stage with Domingo for the performance. They say they have never been approached by him, and it all started 40 years ago but has tapered off from slow to almost or maybe stop. Yet it is now that they are making waves because they can, and the press has hooked on to them since they are a story.
How obnoxious.
Just because men can no longer get away with sexual harassment while women stayed silent years ago, women think they can get back at the men now and get their revenge. There should be a statute of limitations on this type of thing because it is reverse harassment.
And it isn’t news. For the women complaining now, nothing happened to them. They said Domingo’s womanizing was an open secret. Well, it has all stopped now and almost all of the accusers and complainers are anonymous.
The press ought to be ashamed of itself for running with the story. Members of the press and media must really be hard up for a story if they don’t use real attributions.
Domingo is not Harvey Weinstein or Epstein or Bill Cosby or even James Levine. He is a man who just wants to sing for as long as he can and then continue to contribute to the opera world as a conductor and administrator. He has children and grandchildren. His wife is directing opera as well. It appears that the press doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as those reporting get their story. However, the LA Times commentary by Mark Swed is different. The commentary shows direct intent to oust Domingo. The LA Times is starting to show a distinct trend of thought with each article, and I hope that Domingo’s attorneys are noting the trend because it leads toward intent to damage a career.
And we in the public are just reading the stories with anonymous accusations and a couple that are on the record which are very insignificant advances if they happened as described at all.
The women had the opportunity to reject Domingo’s supposed advances. If they didn’t, that is their fault, not Domingo’s. Even if they were afraid of retribution, it was their decision to either walk away or not walk away. The real secret is who the women are and what they are saying to the press that happened. The press is running stories full of secrets.
I therefore think that the press is flying with a bunch of nothing. Almost everything being written on this topic is unethical news. The attributions are anonymous. The press just needs a story. And the press is damaging the lives of families in the process, in this case, Domingo’s family, which includes his children and grandchildren.
This may be one of the biggest challenges of Plácido Domingo’s career. He is known for being a hard worker who believes that if you don’t work, you rust. He has been singing, conducting, being an administrator, and conducting his Operalia competition, literally.
But now he is set to open “Macbeth” at the Met. He has always been liked at the Met, but now the female chorus members and some in the orchestra have changed all of that. It is incomprehensible to me that women in the pit could be saying they feel awkward with Domingo on the stage. They are down, and he is a level up. Unbelievable.
I am writing this commentary to tell Domingo to sing like he has never sung before.
It might be easier just to have the cover do the covering, but I believe that Domingo is a strong man with a strong constitution and will sing on Sept. 25 and hopefully for the rest of his run.
In my estimation, now is the time for Domingo to sing, to show that he will not be intimidated by the chorus members at the Met who never had problems singing with him before: last season or the seasons before. Maybe the audience should give Domingo a standing ovation when he comes out and boo the chorus. Strike that last part. I am just perturbed. When on stage, the chorus members will perform as directed.
A cover should be in the wings in case there is a demonstration. But Domingo should not be canceled under any circumstances. He is a true musician who has done nothing to warrant this revenge from women who have gone on with their lives and probably never even thought about any of this until the #MeToo movement started.
So Mr. Domingo! Stay in your dressing room, and then go out on the stage and let the audience know that you are the singer we know you to be.
Sing Domingo Sing! Go to the Met and Sing!
Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center
By Carol Jean Delmar
Opera Theater Ink
Now that the press is running with the NPR story, another article has come out on Opera Wire about the poor women in the chorus who feel awkward with Plácido Domingo onstage at the Metropolitan Opera before his opening of “Macbeth” with Anna Netrebko on Wednesday (Sept. 25). The women are expressing how they feel during rehearsals, and they don’t want to share the stage with Domingo for the performance. They say they have never been approached by him, and it all started 40 years ago but has tapered off from slow to almost or maybe stop. Yet it is now that they are making waves because they can, and the press has hooked on to them since they are a story.
How obnoxious.
Just because men can no longer get away with sexual harassment while women stayed silent years ago, women think they can get back at the men now and get their revenge. There should be a statute of limitations on this type of thing because it is reverse harassment.
And it isn’t news. For the women complaining now, nothing happened to them. They said Domingo’s womanizing was an open secret. Well, it has all stopped now and almost all of the accusers and complainers are anonymous.
The press ought to be ashamed of itself for running with the story. Members of the press and media must really be hard up for a story if they don’t use real attributions.
Domingo is not Harvey Weinstein or Epstein or Bill Cosby or even James Levine. He is a man who just wants to sing for as long as he can and then continue to contribute to the opera world as a conductor and administrator. He has children and grandchildren. His wife is directing opera as well. It appears that the press doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as those reporting get their story. However, the LA Times commentary by Mark Swed is different. The commentary shows direct intent to oust Domingo. The LA Times is starting to show a distinct trend of thought with each article, and I hope that Domingo’s attorneys are noting the trend because it leads toward intent to damage a career.
And we in the public are just reading the stories with anonymous accusations and a couple that are on the record which are very insignificant advances if they happened as described at all.
The women had the opportunity to reject Domingo’s supposed advances. If they didn’t, that is their fault, not Domingo’s. Even if they were afraid of retribution, it was their decision to either walk away or not walk away. The real secret is who the women are and what they are saying to the press that happened. The press is running stories full of secrets.
I therefore think that the press is flying with a bunch of nothing. Almost everything being written on this topic is unethical news. The attributions are anonymous. The press just needs a story. And the press is damaging the lives of families in the process, in this case, Domingo’s family, which includes his children and grandchildren.
This may be one of the biggest challenges of Plácido Domingo’s career. He is known for being a hard worker who believes that if you don’t work, you rust. He has been singing, conducting, being an administrator, and conducting his Operalia competition, literally.
But now he is set to open “Macbeth” at the Met. He has always been liked at the Met, but now the female chorus members and some in the orchestra have changed all of that. It is incomprehensible to me that women in the pit could be saying they feel awkward with Domingo on the stage. They are down, and he is a level up. Unbelievable.
I am writing this commentary to tell Domingo to sing like he has never sung before.
It might be easier just to have the cover do the covering, but I believe that Domingo is a strong man with a strong constitution and will sing on Sept. 25 and hopefully for the rest of his run.
In my estimation, now is the time for Domingo to sing, to show that he will not be intimidated by the chorus members at the Met who never had problems singing with him before: last season or the seasons before. Maybe the audience should give Domingo a standing ovation when he comes out and boo the chorus. Strike that last part. I am just perturbed. When on stage, the chorus members will perform as directed.
A cover should be in the wings in case there is a demonstration. But Domingo should not be canceled under any circumstances. He is a true musician who has done nothing to warrant this revenge from women who have gone on with their lives and probably never even thought about any of this until the #MeToo movement started.
So Mr. Domingo! Stay in your dressing room, and then go out on the stage and let the audience know that you are the singer we know you to be.
Posted in Commentary/Opinion, News