Conductor James Levine sued the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday after a sexual misconduct investigation sank his storied career, saying the renowned company exploited baseless allegations to tarnish him and then fired him without so much as a phone call. Levine's suit says one of his accusers sent him friendly letters for decades after their alleged encounter that never accused him of wrongdoing, and even talked of visiting. A fourth man later came forward to say Levine had sexually abused him when he was a 20-year-old music student. But at the time, the opera company decided to leave the matter to police, a Met spokesperson said in December. After conductor Leonard Bernstein's 1990 death, Levine was regarded as the top American conductor, so widely known he was given a starring role in the film Fantasia 2000.

Source: CBC News March 15, 2018 23:03 UTC