Violinist Lara St. John.
In Saturday’s (10/26) Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin writes, “In 2019, Lara St. John came forward with an accusation against Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music that shook the music world. The renowned solo violinist recounted how in the mid-1980s, at age 14, she was sexually assaulted and raped by her teacher, famed violinist Jascha Brodsky. She repeatedly reported what happened to the school’s leadership, both at the time and years later, and was ignored. Today, five years after going public with the allegation in an Inquirer investigation and receiving a belated apology from Curtis, St. John’s life is greatly changed…. There’s one thing taking her story public hasn’t changed, she says—not to the extent she had hoped: how the power imbalance in classical music keeps fostering a culture of sexual abuse…. St. John has received hundreds of accounts from women, plus a few from men, sharing their experiences…. She and producer Patrick Hamm are in the process of finishing and getting [a documentary film] onto the film festival circuit. Dear Lara, a full-length documentary, explores not just St. John’s experience at Curtis, but also those of others at schools and in orchestras internationally.”
