The Metropolitan Opera, the most esteemed and popular company of its sort in the United States, has suspended its long-standing, acclaimed conductor and music director James Levine after accusations of sexual abuse against him surfaced.
First made public in the pages of the New York Post, a police report filed in Lake Forest, Illinois in October of 2016 details an alleged pattern of sexual abuse by Levine, beginning in the 1980s against a boy who would have been under the legal age of consent at the time. Levine would have been in his early 40s.
“I began seeing a 41-year-old man when I was 15, without really understanding I was really ‘seeing’ him,” wrote the alleged victim in a statement to police. “It nearly destroyed my family and almost led me to suicide. I felt alone and afraid. He was trying to seduce me. I couldn’t see this. Now I can.” According to the accusations, Levine engaged in a pattern of inappropriate sexual touching and masturbating in front of the boy for years, during which time he allegedly gave his victim $50,000 (over $122,000 in today's money).
The New York Times reported on Saturday that it had confirmed the man's story, adding that he says Levine showered him with attention and gifts and told him he wanted “to see if you can be raised special like me.”
After these reports, the Met released a statement on Twitter reading, "We are deeply disturbed by the news articles that are being published online today about James Levine. We are working on an investigation with outside resources to determine whether charges of sexual misconduct in the 1980s are true, so that we can take appropriate action."
We are deeply disturbed by the news articles that are being published online today about James Levine. We are working on an investigation w outside resources to determine whether charges of sexual misconduct in the 1980s are true, so that we can take appropriate action.
— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) December 3, 2017
It later added, "We are suspending our relationship with James Levine, pending an investigation, following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by Mr. Levine that took place from the 1960's to the 1980's, including the earlier part of his conducting career at the Met."
1 of 2: We are suspending our relationship with James Levine, pending an investigation, following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by Mr. Levine that took place from the 1960's to the 1980's, including the earlier part of his conducting career at the Met. — Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) December 4, 2017
It seemed a fast and thorough response at first, but full reporting and the victim's claims suggest that the Opera knew of the allegations some time ago. That, coupled with other accusations and the Met's already declining fortunes may mean this particular set of accusations — so similar to the many we have heard over the last few months since the twinned exposés detailing Harvey Weinstein's purported history of sexual abuse — constitutes an existential threat to one of America's more well-regarded cultural institutions.
The Times reports that Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, confirmed to the paper that other allegations concerning Levine's behavior "had reached the Met administration’s upper levels twice before, to his knowledge." One was the case above, and the second, first brought to the Met's attention in 1979, came in from the Met's former Executive Director Andrew Bliss, who "wrote a letter to a board member about unspecified accusations about Mr. Levine that had been made in an unsigned letter."
Even at this early stage of the Met's self investigation, there are two incidents of the institution not quickly and comprehensively responding to allegations tied to Levine. That in and of itself opens the opera up to possible liability from any of his past victims. Given that the Times has found two other men willing to accuse Levine of misconduct and, as it writes, "speculation surrounding Mr. Levine’s private life has swirled in classical music circles for decades," it is possible to imagine that there will be more victims coming forward, more tales of institutional malfeasance and more potential for more lawsuits on the way.
None of this is anything the Met can afford right now. While sales this year have slightly improved, the opera is still generally in the midst of a long decline at the box office. The Met has depended more on philanthropic giving than show receipts for years. Giving and income are still generally strong; however, that has come at the price of concessions from unions, wage decreases and cost cutting across the board. Simply put, less money is going into what you see during a night at the opera, and not enough people are paying enough for it.
But all of that is a symptom of a deeper problem. A box at the Met no longer carries the same sort of cultural cachet it once did. When the Met actively targets millennials with discounts and marketing campaigns, it's because the elite whales are either aging out or visiting less. Currently, Gelb isn't just trying to carry the company from season to season — he's trying to establish a future for opera in New York City, one that isn't secured.
Fighting for continued relevance and working hard to fill up seats is hard enough when you're not handling the same sort of scandal that has, elsewhere, destroyed once-esteemed studios. Where the Met was once flirting with a manageable disaster, Levine may have pushed it to the precipice. Will ticket buyers become even more rare as this continues? Will donations dry up? Will it have to pay out settlements it cannot afford? It's unclear. What is clear is that the Met, for all its marbled glory, exists on a financial and popular margin. Levine's alleged actions and the public perception that the Met is possibly involved in keeping one or more accusation hidden may serve to shrink it.
Of course, this is all a secondary cost of Levine's supposed behavior. If the allegations are true, then his alleged victims have already suffered more than New York opera ever could.
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