The top conductor who hit the singer is now suspected of harassment

The incident happened last Tuesday. According to eyewitnesses, 83-year-old Gardiner had harassed an employee on stage during the concert, says the public broadcasting company MDR.

In the description of the concert in the video shows how Gardiner and the orchestra members stand on the stage receiving the audience’s applause. A female employee of the festival comes on stage to hand the performers paper scrolls with tree seeds inside.

The worker hands the scroll to Gardiner, who tries to tuck the scroll into the neck of the worker’s shirt.

The festival management has condemned Gardiner’s behavior, and Gardiner himself has apologized.

In his comment, the conductor says that he did not know that at the end of the concert, the performers would be handed a scroll. He says he got confused and tried to give the scroll back to the worker, but because the worker had both hands full, Gardiner tried to thread the scroll under the worker’s necklace.

Gardiner describes what happened as an “unfortunate misunderstanding”.

The management of the Bach Festival plans to investigate the incident this week and consider whether Gardiner can be invited to perform at the festival again.

According to the MDR, the employee who distributed the scrolls has filed a criminal complaint about the incident.

Sir Due to his unusual behavior, John Eliot Gardiner was also in the news in the summer of 2023 when, after a concert in France, he punched a vocal soloist who had left the stage from the wrong side.

Gardiner regretted his actions at the time. According to him, the behavior was due to the new medication and the heat prevailing at the time of the concert.

As a conductor, Gardiner is known as a pioneer of the early music movement. In it, the aim is to present as much historical music as possible in accordance with the sound of the time of composition.