King's Consort conductor faces court charges

Update June 4 2007, court verdict via this link.

The renowned conductor Robert King (right), who has worked on Hollywood blockbusters as well as winning international acclaim for his work on authentic instrument performances of early and baroque music, was charged yesterday with indecently assaulting three males, one aged under 16, more than 20 years ago. Scotland Yard said Mr King was charged with five counts of indecent assault on three men, identified only as A, allegedly assaulted once in 1985, B allegedly assaulted twice between April and September 1985, and C, allegedly assaulted once between 1982 and 1984, who was under 16 at the time. Mr King, who lives in west London, is due to appear before Ealing magistrates court on July 19.

Mr King founded The King's Consort period instrument orchestra and choir, in 1980, aged 20, while still a student and chorister at St John's College Cambridge. He has won many awards during a varied career as musician, author, and broadcaster and recently worked on film music for Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, Shrek 2, and The Da Vinci Code.

From today's Guardian

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A relevant post On An Overgrown Path is Wikipedia as rumour mill

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is undoubtedly a tragedy for all parties concerned. I wonder how the press, music and otherwise, will report the progress and outcome of this charge? The period of time between the alleged incidents and charges can often colour our views too. I am also intrigued as to whether Rober King's career changes as a result...

I've only met him once - when he was an aspiring maker of period woodwind instruments - music seeped from every corner of his being and you could tell he had abundant energies that would find their higher outlet.

As has been commented on many times, there's often a link supposed between highly creative, driven people, and their sexual appetite and predilictions. As a frequent attender of music festivals I can almost feel the energy that surrounds performers and conductors...
2:44 pm
Unknown said…
I agree wholeheartedly: i've often felt there's a connection between rapacious sexual appetite and creativity.However,it must always be of consent or it's a very selfish pursuit.
I have it on good authority that Herbert Von Karajan was bi-sexual (like the not dis-similar looking Bernstein)though i'm not exactly sure what kind of men he went for.
10:20 pm
theNotSoDivineMsM said…
my question is.....WHY did these individuals wait over 20 years to make these allegations?
4:31 pm
Unknown said…
Victims of underage sex almost always wait a very long time before they have the confidence or understanding to make any complaint. They feel enormous embarrassment, shame, a sense of having let their families down, and so on. This makes the crime even more reprehensible.
5:28 pm
Laurent said…
I am aghast to discover this, just now, only because I was seeking a copy of Jim Four's portrait of him from the Purcell study he published with Thames & Hudson. This is one of the musicians and scholars I admire the most, in the finest choral music in this language. I hope it will be possible to suspend judgment with his "they are complete liars" defense, and address only the music, given that the sentence - rightful or not, fair or not - has been served and, as he says, "accepted." But I have another reason for this hope, beyond admiring his work. When the information regarding Britten's involvement with children became unquestionable, I was no longer able to "accept" him as one of my favorite conductors of the "Prague" symphony, the Brandenburg Concertos, and his own music. Involvement with children calls, in performers of fine music, the capacity to renounce it, as the autonomous being's entitlement to non-disturbance.
11:30 pm
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