“I didn’t hit him too hard,” admitted John Eliot Gardiner (Fontmell Magna, Dorset, England, 81 years old), on July 28th Finantial Times“but, in any case, I slapped or hit a young singer, I lost my temper and did something really unforgivable.” The legendary historicist conductor gave this economic news outlet his first interview after the violent incident he starred in, on August 22, 2023, at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André. The incident occurred after a concert version of the opera The Trojanswhen Gardiner slapped bassist William Thomas in the face and punched him in the mouth, claiming that he had entered the stage from the wrong place.
There was talk of dehydration due to excessive heat and a change in his medication, but Gardiner’s history of previous assaults led to a public apology and his retirement until the end of the year to undergo treatment. Many thought it was the end of the career of one of the leading living interpreters of Monteverdi, Handel, Bach, Beethoven and Berlioz, with dozens of essential recordings. And especially after announcing, in February, the extension of his retirement. But they were wrong. On July 16, Gardiner reappeared at the head of the Radio France Philharmonic in Montpellier. He has also just announced the creation of the Constellation Choir and Orchestra, with whom he will counter-program, next December, the European tour of his former ensembles, conducted by Christophe Rousset, with exactly the same compositions by Charpentier and Bach, and on practically the same dates and cities.
This is a very clear vendetta of the tyrannical and brilliant Gardiner who intends to sink the Monteverdi Choir that he founded 60 years ago and to which he added, in the following years, two prestigious period instrument ensembles: the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. The three are now grouped under the name of Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras (MCO) and have managed to maintain the same excellence in his absence with young conductors at the helm, such as Dinis Sousa, Jonathan Sells or Peter Whelan, who conducted his last Spanish appearance last March at the Palau de la Música Catalana.
In the exclusive interview, Gardiner admits that she grew up being bullied at her boarding school. She also confesses that she suffered the tyranny of her teacher, the legendary Nadia Boulanger, “to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for having subjected me to such severe discipline.” She also claims to have undergone all the necessary treatments to control her anger attacks: “I have changed. I feel like I have really crossed a Rubicon in this last year.”
The MCO’s board of directors, however, does not agree. On July 24, it issued a statement announcing that Gardiner “will not be returning to the organization.” Its dismissal puts the “obligation to protect victims of abuse and assault, and to prevent its recurrence” first, but also acknowledges “John Eliot Gardiner’s extraordinary musical influence over the past sixty years” and pledges to “honor and preserve his phenomenal achievements.” The same day, the director was quick to publish another statement on the website of his agency Intermusica, which begins with these words: “After a long period of deep consideration and reflection, I have decided to resign as leader and artistic director of the MCO with immediate effect.”
It seemed a sensible and amicable split: “I feel that for the sake of the institution and its talented members, many of whom I value as personal friends, the time has come for us to go our separate ways,” Gardiner continued. The British conductor added that he had no intention of retiring: “I will be focusing on a wide variety of other activities, including guest conducting, recording, writing, and creative and educational projects.” But at the same time he appears to have lobbied European music venues to cancel MCO performances. And he even promoted internal division within his former ensembles, with a supposed internal poll of 173 musicians, denounced by the MCO’s board of trustees, which represents its 360 members, as a “dirty tricks campaign.”
The real sting from Gardiner was still missing, and it came on September 9. It was understandable that the director wanted to found new ensembles and also that some MCO musicians decided to accompany him in his new stage. This has been the case, for example, with the violinist and concertmaster Kati Debretzeni, who signed the aforementioned survey, and also oboe soloist Michael Niesemann and principal violist Fanny Paccoud. However, the announcement of the creation of the Constellation Choir & Orchestra revealed a European tour in December, in which Gardiner will counterprogram the MCO, now conducted by the prestigious French conductor Christophe Rousset. Not only will he perform the same Bach cantatas (BWV 36c and 110), but he will also take on the Christmas cantatas for the first time. Midnight Massby Charpentier. Both concerts have already been announced at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, for December 7 (with Gardiner and his Constellation) and December 14 (with Rousset and the MCO).
There is no doubt that Gardiner’s new ensembles, whose names bear a close personal and artistic connection to him, will be of interest. The new association that will bring together his new ensembles is called Springhead Constellation. It takes its name from the family farm and woodland where he was born and still lives, in Fontmell Magna, in the south of England. In fact, the Springhead estate has always been known for its springs and for housing a mill, which Gardiner’s parents converted in the 1940s into a pioneering organic farm and a centre for the arts and the revival of traditional cultures. Now, it seems, Sir John is also going to promote a music festival there.
And the name Constellation is due to her renewed interest in Claudio Monteverdi, the composer she promoted 60 years ago by giving his name to the choir she now intends to sink. In 2017, coinciding with the 450th anniversary of the Italian composer, she conducted his three preserved operas in semi-staged versions in several European cities. A marathon that she continued by planning a podcast titled Monteverdi and his constellationwhich was released during the summer of 2020. In it he aims to place Monteverdi’s “star” in the constellation of other contemporary geniuses such as Galileo, Rubens, Caravaggio, Kepler, Shakespeare and Francis Bacon. An admirable informative work that has had the collaboration of great experts and that does not avoid its popular explosion. Not by chance, the first chapter begins by revealing how the main theme of the series’ soundtrack The Good Fightby David Buckley, is based on a fragment of the Vespers of the Blessed Virginde Monteverdi.
It seems that he has used the months of his retirement to convert that series of podcast in his next book, after the successful Music in the sky castle (Acantilado) which he dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach. On April 10, 2025, Harper Collins will publish his new monograph, in which he seems to have developed a special interest in Monteverdi’s madrigal books, which he has performed little in relation to his religious music and operas. Perhaps that will be one of his next projects. Hopefully Gardiner will live through his new Constellation and let the MCO live, and will also have learned that today authority on the podium is achieved with a more collaborative than imposing attitude. Nevertheless, it will be a pleasure to see him on stage again.