The much-admired conductor, who led his musicians at the Coronation, has quit the Berlioz Festival early following allegations he hit a singer backstage <\/p>
The conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner<\/strong><\/a> has abruptly cancelled an appearance at the Berlioz Festival in France, after reports that he physically assaulted a singer backstage.<\/p>\n Gardiner was conducting Berlioz<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s opera\u00a0Les Troyens\u00a0<\/em>across two nights at the festival, which takes place in La C\u00f4te-Saint-Andr\u00e9, near Grenoble.<\/p>\n On Tuesday 22 August, bass soloist William Thomas left the podium on the wrong side. It\u2019s reported that Gardiner then took the singer to task backstage, hitting him in the face.<\/p>\n On the Wednesday, the festival announced that the conductor would withdraw from conducting the second part of the opera. His place was taken by assistant conductor Dinis Sousa.<\/p>\n One of the world\u2019s most admired conductors, John Eliot Gardiner is famous for his interpretations of\u00a0Baroque<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0music, in particular\u00a0Bach<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Monteverdi<\/strong><\/a>. His cycle of Beethoven symphonies<\/strong><\/a> with the Orchestre R\u00e9volutionnaire et Romantique, one of three ensembles he has founded, is also one of the most admired Beethoven symphony cycles in the catalogue.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Gardiner made arguably the most high-profile appearance of his career. At the pre-coronation service concert at Westminster Abbey, he conducted two of the ensembles he founded, the\u00a0Monteverdi Choir<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0English Baroque Soloists<\/a><\/strong>, in music by Bach<\/strong><\/a> and Bruckner<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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