Conductor François-Xavier Roth continues to face ramifications from sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced in May: today, the London Symphony Orchestra announced that Roth has withdrawn from his engagements with the orchestra through the 2024-’25 season.
Roth was to conduct the London Symphony on Oct. 30-31 with Beethoven’s First and Fourth Symphonies, plus Ondřej Adámek’s concerto “Follow Me” featuring violinist Isabelle Faust. The concert will now be led by Thomas Adès.
Nov. 27-28, Roth was to conduct Helmut Lachenmann’s “My Melodies” for eight horns and orchestra, followed by Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. He will be replaced by Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov.
A third series of concerts, Jan. 26-27, 2025, features arguably more challenging music by Debussy and Boulez; a replacement conductor for these concerts has not yet been announced.
Since the sexual misconduct allegations were published in May, Roth has either canceled or been removed from almost every engagement he had scheduled in 2024-’25. The sole major orchestra to stand by Roth is the SWR Symphony Orchestra, which in July reconfirmed Roth as its next chief conductor following an extensive investigation.
