Courtesy / Christian Steiner
Stephen Lord, principal conductor of Opera Maine, agreed to end his contract with the company after sexual harassment accusations came to light.
June 21, 2019
Opera Maine and 'super-conductor' end contract after harassment charges surface
By William Hall
Opera Maine, the only professional opera company in the state, has reached a “mutual agreement” to end conductor Stephen Lord’s work for the troupe, after accusations against Lord of longstanding sexual harassment became public this week.
Executive Director Caroline Koelker told Mainebiz Thursday night that Lord would not perform in Opera Maine’s production of “The Magic Flute” in Portland on July 24 and July 26.
“The performances will continue as scheduled,” she said by email, and added that Artistic Director Dona D. Vaughn will name a replacement conductor soon.
Lord, 70, was the subject of sexual harassment allegations reported Tuesday by a Minnestota magazine, the Twin Cities Arts Reader.
Based on interviews with more than two dozen singers, musicians and other individuals, the magazine concluded that Lord made “repeated and pervasive sexual harassment behaviors” over the past decade. They included remarks and emails allegedly offering artists career advancement in return for sexual favors.
“I learned to fear Maestro Lord, and to dread his messages,” said one singer who worked with the conductor at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, according to the Arts Reader.
Lord resigned Tuesday from that company, where he had served for almost 40 years, the magazine and other news media have reported. He also resigned this week from the principal conductor position he had held at Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit for the past three years.
In Maine, Lord was contracted to serve as principal conductor of Mozart's “The Magic Flute,” and had wielded the baton for Opera Maine twice previously, in its 2017 production of “La Traviata” and in “Tosca” during 2015.
“Opera Maine has never received a complaint of sexual harassment against Maestro Lord,” Koelker told Mainebiz.
The company has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of harassment in the workplace, she said. “Every employee and contractor signs a copy of our policy and it is posted during rehearsals and workplace activities.”
Lord is “one of the opera world’s luminaries, one of an elite number of super-conductors,” according to the Arts Reader. Opera News magazine has called him one of the “25 most powerful names” in U.S. opera.
Opera Maine, founded in 1995 and formerly known as PORTopera, is a nonprofit organization run by a handful of staffers and volunteers. According to 2016 tax records, it had annual revenues of about $400,000, most of which came from contributions and grants.
The company produces one fully staged work each July at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, hosts an artist-in-training program and educational activities for teens, and performs at informal “serenades” and community concerts throughout Maine.
Calls to Lord for comment were not successful, but a recorded phone greeting by someone identified as Lord said he was on an “extended holiday” that might take “a few months.”
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