Royal Philharmonic says names Vasily Petrenko music director

LONDON – The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra says Vasily Petrenko will succeed Charles Dutoit, who stepped down as artistic director and principal conductor following multiple allegations of sexual assault.

Petrenko will be the orchestra’s music director — a broad role that incorporates Dutoit’s former position.

The 42-year-old Russian conductor, who is the chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, will begin his tenure at the beginning of the 2021-22 season.

Dutoit’s departure had been scheduled for October 2019, but it was brought forward after The Associated Press reported that three opera singers and a classical musician had accused him of sexually assaulting them between 1985 and 2010.

Swiss-born Dutoit had denied the allegations saying they are “as shocking to me as they are to my friends and colleagues.”