Renowned British conductor steps down after assault claims
LONDON—British conductor John Eliot Gardiner on Wednesday said he was stepping down from the choir and orchestra he has led for six decades after claims he hit a performer.
The acclaimed conductor, 81, withdrew last August from the BBC Proms—Britain’s foremost classical musical festival—after the incident in which he is said to have struck a member of the Monteverdi Choir.
“After a long period of deep consideration and reflection, I have decided to step down as leader and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra,” he said in the statement.
Gardiner added that he had done a “great deal of soul-searching” over the past year and had “apologized repeatedly and unreservedly” for his loss of control.
Gardiner is a veteran of the Proms and conducted during King Charles III’s coronation in May 2023.
It is alleged he hit bass singer William Thomas after he went the wrong way off stage last August after a performance at the Berlioz festival at the composer’s birthplace near Grenoble in southeastern France.
Founded in 1964
Gardiner founded the Monteverdi Choir in 1964.
He described it as the “proudest and most inspiring project of my life,” but added that he thought it was best that he and the orchestra parted company.
After the incident, Gardiner withdrew from engagements and said he was seeking specialist help.
Gardiner said the choir and orchestra had been the “proudest and most inspiring project of my life” and that he had reached his decision “with a heavy heart after six decades of remarkable collaborative achievement.”In 2010, the conductor addressed his reputation as a hard taskmaster.
“I can be impatient, I get stroppy, I haven’t always been compassionate,” he told the Financial Times.
But he said stories of “a dictatorial style that has bordered on rudeness” were overblown. “Someone needs to be in charge,” he said.
His string of awards include a knighthood and honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music. He has also won two Grammys for opera and choral music.
The board of the choir and orchestra paid tribute to Gardiner for his “extraordinary musical influence over the past 60 years.”
It said he had taken “full responsibility for the incident.”
