Sir John Eliot Gardiner sacked by Monteverdi choir and orchestras after reported punch

24 July 2024, 20:00 | Updated: 25 July 2024, 08:23

Choir and orchestras announce permanent separation from founding conductor, owing to the need to “protect victims of abuse and assault and prevent any recurrence”.

The board of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras has announced that Sir John Eliot Gardiner will not be returning to the organisation, after an absence of almost a year following reports of violent behaviour backstage.

In August 2023, after a performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Gardiner reportedly punched English bass soloist William Thomas in a backstage altercation. Soon afterwards, the conductor withdrew from all upcoming concerts, saying he needed time to focus on his mental health and engage in a course of counselling.

However, on Wednesday afternoon it was made clear that conductor and ensembles would now be permanently parting ways.

John Eliot Gardiner “accepted full responsibility for the incident, and he has not worked with the organisation for nearly a year”, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras (MCO) said.

“[We] take seriously its obligations to protect victims of abuse and assault, and preventing any recurrence remains a priority for the organisation.”

Sir John Eliot Gardiner founded the Monteverdi Choir in 1964. The ensemble would go on to be regarded as one of the world’s finest and renowned for its recordings of Bach, Monteverdi and Baroque music. He also founded the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, which form the Monteverdi orchestras. Gardiner was knighted in 1998.

“I have done a great deal of soul searching since the deeply regrettable incident at the Festival Berlioz at La Côte-Saint-André last August and have apologised repeatedly and unreservedly for losing control in such an inappropriate fashion”, the conductor said in his own statement, confirming the MCO departure.

“I have undergone extensive therapy and other counselling over the past 11 months and have learned a great deal about myself and my past behaviour,” the conductor said.

Gardiner enjoyed a leading role in the music for the Coronation of King Charles III in May 2023, conducting his choir and orchestra before the service at Westminster Abbey.

Since summer 2023, the choir and orchestras have been working with conductors Dinis Sousa, Jonathan Sells and Peter Whelan. The board said they will soon announce new conductors who will be joining the MCO to lead a new season of musical projects.