Conductor Stephen Lord has resigned from his positions as Principal Conductor at Michigan Opera Theatre and Music Director Emeritus at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis following allegations of sexual harassment.

The conductor resigned after allegations were published on the website Twin Cities Arts Reader which featured two dozen individuals who made harassment claims. The claims also stated that “several singers who worked under Lord’s baton at the English National Opera and Opera Maine relayed stories of Lord mixing professional and sexual overtures, putting a dark spin on the ‘Come coach with me’ invitation common between singers and conductor-coaches.”

Lord served as music director at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis from 1991 through 2017 and went on to become the Music Director Emeritus. He was later appointed Principal Conductor at Michigan Opera Theatre in 2016.

In a statement, the Michigan Opera Theatre noted that Lord’s actions “do not align with the company’s values and standards. Stephen has had a long and successful relationship with Michigan Opera Theatre, and we appreciate his artistic leadership, especially in his last three years as Principal Conductor.”

Meanwhile, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis said, “We are shocked to learn of the serious allegations made against Stephen Lord in an online publication on June 18th. There is no place for harassment of any kind at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and we have strict policies in place for dealing with such matters. We have not received any complaints or reports of harassment against this company member at our organization, but we take any allegation of possible misconduct extremely seriously. Given the serious nature of these allegations, we will be conducting a full and thorough independent investigation into this matter.”

Lord is currently scheduled to conduct at Opera Maine in performances of “The Magic Flute” on July 24 and 26. Roberto Kalb has replaced Lord in OTSL’s Center Stage concert on June 25 and the Michigan Opera Theatre’s production of “Sweeney Todd’ and “Pagliacci” will announce a new conductor.