Soprano Amelia Feuer has filed an official complaint with the French government against Frédéric Chaslin.

In the complaint the soprano alleges that the conductor sexually harassed her over text messages in 2016 and offered her work and notoriety in exchange for sexual favors.

The news was first reported in L’Humanité and France Info and later in Diapason.

In an interview with France Info, Feuer said that the Chaslin sent her the following message on July 14: “Darling, you have to wait for me to see the fireworks, we could watch them together, you could wear a warm coat and I would put my hands and my mouth everywhere you are cold, I promise you would quickly warm up.”

He then sent her a picture of a drug intended to “send her to heaven for six hours.”

According to Feuer the complaint is past the statute of limitations but she noted that she wanted to draw attention to sexist and sexual violence within the classical music world.

Feuer noted that she spoke up after it was revealed that Chaslin was in the Epstein files.

Those files revealed the conductor to have a relationship with the convicted sex offender that dated back to 2012 and noted that Chaslin and Epstein had conversations regarding the #MeToo movement. The files also revealed that Epstein was also connected to current Santa Fe Opera Board of Directors member Peter Frank who sent an email in 2014 to both Chaslin and Epstein stating, “All is terrific in Santa Fe a very successful musical summer for us here We may be in Paris for a stay next September/Oct What is your schedule then.”

Diapason has received a statement from Chaslin which reads:

“This is the first time I have spoken publicly about the accusations reported in your article. A deliberate, considered silence, respectful of the judicial system. My intention was to wait to be heard by the investigators, the only ones competent to assess the facts in their entirety, and not through selected excerpts. However, the published allegations are of such gravity, and their presentation so partial, that I can no longer allow a distorted version of reality to take hold.”

He added, “Your article reproduces fragments of private messages without reservation, isolated from their context and presented as self-contained evidence. It is easy, by taking a sentence from a conversation, to make it carry a meaning it did not have. But it is essential to be willing to restore the complete chronology, the mutual tone, and the continuity over time. The exchanges mentioned did not end in 2016. Ms. Feuer contacted me again in 2020 in particularly warm terms. This factual reality, though essential, is absent from your account. Yet it calls into question the consistency of the accusations made today. I, too, could extract messages. I, too, could select phrases and release them to the public. But I refuse to do so. Out of respect for the ongoing proceedings. Out of respect for the truth. And out of dignity. Private correspondence is not meant to be exploited in the media. It must be examined in its entirety by the courts, and not fragmented to produce an effect.

“A single sentence does not constitute an offense. Justice is not served by screenshot. It is also suggested that an artistic audition was the setting for inappropriate behavior. Ms. Feuer auditioned. She was not selected. In the world of opera, this happens every day. Professional disappointment does not transform into a crime simply through media attention. While I have no doubt that a dismissal of the case will restore my rights and honor, having never committed the acts described in your article, it will be up to the ongoing investigation to shed full light on the motivations that led this person to publicly level such accusations against me, using the supposedly credible pretext that my name appeared in the Epstein documents. The repeated association of my name with this extremely serious international case, without any demonstration of a proven factual link, perpetuates a confusion whose effect is clear to everyone. The effect is not proof. Juxtaposition is not guilt. My initial silence was a deliberate choice of restraint. It cannot be interpreted otherwise.”

Chaslin has also denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and has not been accused of anything. Chaslin is set to conduct at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo in a production of “Aida” as well as at the Latvian National Opera in a production of “Aida.”

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