John Eliot Gardiner.
In Monday’s (9/9) Guardian (U.K.), Emine Sinmaz writes, “An internationally renowned conductor who pulled out of the BBC Proms last year after punching and slapping a soloist has started a new orchestra and choir. Sir John Eliot Gardiner apologized last August after assaulting William Thomas, 29, for allegedly entering the stage incorrectly at the Berlioz festival in France. On Monday, Gardiner, 81, announced the Constellation Choir and Constellation Orchestra, under the umbrella Springhead Constellation, which will be led by him…. ‘I have been deeply moved and inspired by the extremely warm and enthusiastic messages of support I have received from musicians, presenters and promoters alike … not forgetting the important lessons I have learnt and needed to learn from the past year,’ he said. Gardiner withdrew from engagements and said he was seeking specialist help after hitting Thomas, an English bass … at a performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir …. The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras’ board said it had decided Gardiner would not be returning to the organization as leader and artistic director…. [The new ensemble] will perform … in Germany, France, Austria and Luxembourg this December.”
