World-renowned British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig has been charged with child sexual offences, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Latham-Koenig was the first British-born conductor to become artistic director of a Russian opera company, and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2020 for services to music and UK-Russia cultural relations.
“Jan Latham-Koenig, 70,… was arrested at London Victoria Train station on Wednesday 10 January,” the police force said in a statement.
“He was charged the following day… with arranging/facilitating a child sexual offence and sexual communication with a child,” it added.
During his time at the Novaya Opera (New Opera), he staged Moscow’s premiere of Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde”, one of the cornerstones of Western classical music.
The Novaya Opera was founded by former Moscow city mayor Yuri Luzhkov to be an opera for the people — cheaper and more accessible than the better-known Bolshoi.
Its founding director Yevgeny Kolobov was universally admired but the house then floundered after his death in 2003, rediscovering its momentum under Latham-Koenig’s leadership.
Latham-Koenig was due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday, police said.
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