Charles Dutoit

Charles Édouard Dutoit (born 7 October 1936) is a Swiss conductor. In September 2018, he was named principal guest conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic as of the season 2018-2019. In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal Award. Dutoit is the former artistic director and principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor emeritus of the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, and was conductor laureate of the Philadelphia Orchestra until the orchestra stripped him of the title after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. He is the former music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre National de France, and as of 2017, 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 that Dutoit had sexually assaulted four women, orchestras either cancelled engagements or severed ties with Dutoit. He withdrew from his concerts with the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. The next month several other women came forward with further claims of sexual misconduct. Dutoit issued a statement denying the allegations.