In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal Award. Dutoit held previous positions with the
London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the
Tokyo NHK Symphony and the Orchestre National de France. As of 2017, he was conductor emeritus of the Verbier Music Festival Orchestra. He is an honorary member of the Ravel Foundation in France and the Stravinsky Foundation in Switzerland.
In December 2017, following allegations of sexual assault, the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies cancelled his engagements.[1] In a statement, Dutoit denied the charges.[2]
Dutoit began his professional music career in 1957 as a
viola player with various orchestras across Europe and South America. In January 1959, he made his debut as a professional conductor with an orchestra of Radio Lausanne and
Martha Argerich. From 1959 he was a guest conductor of the
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. After this, he was the conductor for Radio Zurich until 1967, when he took over the
Bern Symphony Orchestra from
Paul Kletzki, where he stayed for 11 years.[citation needed]
In 1977, Dutoit became the artistic director of the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM). In the words of Glasgow-based music critic Kate Molleson: "A 20-year recording contract with
Decca made the MSO the most recorded orchestra in the world, and the best of these recordings — Ravel's La Valse and Daphnis et Chloe, Debussy's La Mer, Stravinsky's French-period ballets — remain unsurpassed."[3] Reaction to Dutoit joining the Montreal Symphony was positive. Peter G. Davis stated that Dutoit transformed the Montreal Symphony.[4] New York Magazine wrote similarly about Dutoit, adding that he was noted for the championing of new Canadian music.[5] Throughout these years, he called without success for a new symphony concert hall for Montréal.[6] Dutoit resigned from the Montreal Symphony in April 2002, with immediate effect, after the Quebec Musicians Guild complained about what it called Dutoit's "offensive behaviour and complete lack of respect for the musicians".[7][8][9] In January 2018, the OSM acknowledged ignoring complaints from musicians of verbal and 'psychological harassment' by Dutoit dating back to the 1990s.[10] He did not return to the OSM as a guest conductor until 2016, in a concert at the new Maison Symphonique de Montréal.[11]
Dutoit has received more than 40 international awards and distinctions, including two
Grammy Awards (United States), several
Juno Awards (Canada), the Grand Prix du Président de la République (France), the Prix mondial du disque de Montreux (Switzerland), the Amsterdam Edison Award, the Japan Record Academy Award, and the German Music Critics' Award. He and the OSM made many recordings for the Decca/London label.[citation needed]
Dutoit first conducted the
Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980. From 1990 to 1999, he was music director of the orchestra's summer concerts at the
Mann Center for the Performing Arts. From 1990 to 2010, he was artistic director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer festival in
Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1991, he was made an Honorary Citizen of the city of
Philadelphia. In February 2007, Dutoit was named the orchestra's chief conductor and artistic adviser, for a contract of four years, effective September 2008.[12] Following the conclusion of his contract in Philadelphia in 2012, the orchestra named him its conductor laureate, as of the 2012–13 season.[13]
Since 1990, Dutoit has directed the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. From 1991 to 2001, Dutoit was Music Director of the
Orchestre National de France, with whom he made a number of recordings and toured extensively. In 1996, he was appointed principal conductor and in 1998 music director of Tokyo's
NHK Symphony Orchestra. For the NHK television network, he made a series of documentary films for the young people called "Cities of Music" in Venice, St Petersburg, Tokyo, Buenos Aires (plus Rio de Janeiro and Manhaus), New York, Vienna, Budapest, Leipzig, Dresden, Paris and London.[14] In 1997, he was made an honorary Officer of the
Order of Canada. He is also one of a handful of non-Canadian citizens to be a Grand Officer of the
Ordre national du Québec.[citation needed]
In April 2007, Dutoit was named principal conductor and artistic director of the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as of 2009.[15] In October 2019 he was scheduled to stand down as the RPO's principal conductor and to take the title of Honorary Conductor for Life of the orchestra, but instead he resigned in January 2018.[16][17]
Between 2009 and 2017, Dutoit also served as the music director of the
Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland.[18] In April 2014, Dutoit received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Classical Music Awards. He was also made an honorary member of Fondation Igor Stravinsky in Geneva and Fondation Ravel in Monfort l'Amaury, France.[citation needed]
In September 2018, Dutoit was named principal guest conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic, effective May 2019.[19]
In late 2021, Dutoit withdrew from a scheduled subscription concert of the
New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra due to his infection with
COVID-19.[20] He was subsequently booked by the Orchestra to conduct in Summer, 2023.[21]
Personal life
Dutoit shuns publicity and protects his private life from the media. He has been married four times. His first marriage was to Ruth Cury, by whom he has a son, Ivan, who lives in
Santa Monica, California, with his family, who in turn has two children: Anne-Sophie and Jean-Sebastian. He was also married to Argentine concert pianist
Martha Argerich (with whom he has a daughter, Anne-Catherine) and to Canadian economist
Marie-Josée Drouin. He is now married to Canadian violinist
Chantal Juillet.[22]
Allegations of sexual assault
In 2017 four women accused Dutoit of sexually assaulting them between the late 1970s and 2010.[23][24] The alleged incidents occurred in a variety of places.[25][24][26]
One allegation was contested by witnesses.[27] The allegations were made by Paula Rasmussen, mezzo-soprano (1991, Los Angeles);[28]Sylvia McNair, soprano (1985, Minnesota);[28][29] and
Jenny Q. Chai, pianist.[30][31] A singer with the Philadelphia Orchestra also claimed that Dutoit assaulted her in 2006 in
upstate New York and again in 2010 in Philadelphia.[25][30]"[32] A 24-year-old musician with the
Civic Orchestra of Chicago alleged that Dutoit forced himself on her in 2006.[28] In January 2018, a British theatre administrator said that when she was an intern Dutoit sexually assaulted her at Tanglewood 20 years earlier.[24][33]"[17][34][35]
In March 2018, the Boston Symphony said that Allan's allegations were "credible" and that three other women "credibly described incidents in the 1980s and 1990s in which they, too, were victims of Dutoit's sexual misconduct."[36]
2000 – Prix Juno – Canada (Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque, Impressioni Brasiliane, OSM)
2000 – Grammy: Best Soloist with Orchestra (Bartok Piano Concerto No 3, Prokofiev Concertos No 1 and No 3, Martha Argerich, OSM)
2002 – Prix Juno – Canada (Bruch 3 Violin Concertos, James Ehnes, OSM)
2004 – New York Times Best Classical Discs of the year (Theodorakis "Zorba", OSM)
2007 – Grammy nomination (Franck Symphonic Variations, Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos No 2 and No 5, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande OSR)