World-famous opera star Plácido Domingo faces multiple accusations of sexual harassment

One of the world's greatest opera singers has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, with one claiming he had a superstition that “he had to be with a woman before a show”.

Plácido Domingo, who commands sell-out audiences across the globe and is currently the director of the Los Angeles Opera company, has been accused by eight singers and a dancer of sexual harassment over three decades.

The women claim Domingo repeatedly harassed them and seven of the accusers claimed that their careers had suffered when they rebuffed his advances because of his "God-like" stature within the Opera world.

They accuse Domingo of acts that ranged from unwelcome touching to pressuring them into sex. After decades of remaining silent, they said they felt emboldened by the #MeToo movement which began in 2017 as an attempt to tackle sexual misconduct in the workplace.

Domingo, 78, has refuted the allegations, calling them “deeply troubling and, as presented, inaccurate”.

The Spanish-born tenor has won nine Grammy and five Latin Grammy awards and was a member of the “Three Tenors”, with Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras.

A spokeswoman for The Los Angeles Opera last night said that the company intends to launch an investigation into the "concerning allegations".

The allegations against him were outlined in an investigation by the Associated Press on Tuesday, which said it had spoken to dozens of people within the industry who corroborated the accounts.

Only one of the nine women has agreed to be named publicly. Patricia Wulf, a retired mezzo-soprano who sang with Domingo at the Washington Opera in 1998, said that while Domingo did not physically touch her, his behaviour was coercive.

“Every time I would walk off stage, he would be in the wings waiting for me,” she told the AP. “He would come right up to me, as close as could be, put his face right in my face, lower his voice and say, ‘Patricia, do you have to go home tonight?’”

She added: “You have to understand that when a man that powerful - he is almost like God in my business.... as soon as you walk away and get away, you think, ‘Did I just ruin my career?’ And that went on through that entire production.”

Another woman, who remains anonymous, was 23 and a singer in the Los Angeles Opera chorus when she first met Domingo in 1988. After three years of late-night phone calls and “uncomfortably affectionate” physical contact, she says she felt compelled to give in to his advances.

“I finally gave in and slept with him. I ran out of excuses. It was like, ‘OK, I guess this is what I have to do.’”

She said Domingo told her he had a “superstition that he had to be with a woman before a show” to help him relax and calm his nerves.

She further claimed that a number of figures in the opera world knew what was happening. “Everybody would see me running around to avoid him and laugh it off. That’s how everybody dealt with Placido.”

Another singer, who worked in Los Angeles in the mid-2000s, said Domingo was persistent in his pursuit of her and on one occasion put his hand down her skirt, leading her to "get out of there".

Since then, she says she has sung at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera and elsewhere, but has never again been hired to sing at the Los Angeles Opera house or with Domingo.

In a statement, Domingo said: “I believed that all of my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual”.

However the opera star said he recognised “that the rules and standards by which we are – and should be – measured against today are very different than they were in the past".

“I am blessed and privileged to have had a more than 50-year career in opera and will hold myself to the highest standards,” he added.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Opera told the Telegraph: "Plácido Domingo has been a dynamic creative force in the life of LA Opera and the artistic culture of Los Angeles for more than three decades. Nevertheless, we are committed to doing everything we can to foster a professional and collaborative environment where all our employees and artists feel equally comfortable, valued and respected."

The spokeswoman added that it "will engage outside counsel to investigate the concerning allegations about Plácido Domingo".