Music Director's Downfall Serves As Cautionary Tale

By Joseph Dalton
Times Union
January 3, 2019

https://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Music-director-s-downfall-serves-as-cautionary-13506731.php

Nathan Madsen (Woodstock Chamber Orchestra)

In April 2016, the management and board of the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra were unable to reach their music director, Nathan Madsen. The ensemble, which was renamed the Woodstock Symphony Orchestra last fall, plays just four concerts a year and its final appearance of the season was coming up in May at the Quimby Theater on the campus of SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge.

When Madsen was hired for the part-time position in 2012, he was working as assistant conductor of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra in Texas. In 2014 he relocated to Florida, where he was a visiting professor of music and doctoral candidate at the University of Tampa.

Soon enough the Woodstock orchestra leadership found out why they'd lost touch with Madsen. In March 2016 in Tampa, he was arrested on charges of child trafficking and child pornography.

According to an online statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Madsen had responded to a prostitution ad posted on Backpage by federal law enforcement agents. He then drove to a designated location and paid $140, expecting to have sex with a 14-year-old girl. Following Madsen's arrest, a warrant was issued and his electronic devices were seized and searched. They revealed previous contact with a 16-year-old girl that resulted in the production of child pornography. Some of the images and videos depicted violent, sadistic or masochistic conduct.

Madsen subsequently pleaded guilty, and on May 26, 2017, he was sentenced in federal court to 17 1/2 years in prison. After his eventual release he will be registered as a sex offender and be under supervision for the remainder of his life. At the sentencing, according to a story from the Tampa Bay Times, Madsen offered a tearful apology. His sister recounted their Mormon upbringing and troubled family situation.

An online resume from around 2014, just before his move to Florida, states that Madsen had twice worked as a clinician with the Empire State Youth Orchestra — during the month of October 2007 and from April to May 2008. ESYO was one of several youth orchestras around the country with which he had brief associations. At Bard College, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in 2006, Madsen was music director of the college orchestra from December 2007 to May 2010. He was also an adjunct faculty member at RPI from May 2010 to August 2011 where he conducted the Rensselaer Symphony Orchestra.

"Everybody was happy with him musically but he got himself into trouble and we had to let him go," says Greg Dinger, a classical guitarist who is president of the board of the Woodstock Symphony. Madsen's dismissal followed a unanimous vote of the board, citing his failure to appear for work (missing the May 2016 concert) and his violation of a morals clause in his employment contract. "Twenty or 30 years ago we wouldn't have had something like that in his contract," says Dinger.

Rebecca Calos, the ESYO's executive director, said this in a statement: "Nathan Madsen was briefly associated with the Empire State Youth Orchestra in 2007-2008. Empire State Youth Orchestra has a comprehensive child safety policy and thoroughly vets all staff, clinicians and coaches, including background checks. Student musicians are never alone with clinicians or coaches, and classes are held in public spaces open to public view."

The Woodstock Symphony can count itself lucky to suffer only a brush with sexual scandal. During the past year or so larger musical institutions across the country have been riled by accusations and investigations of sexual misconduct among conductors and leading musicians.

A few prominent examples include the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, which in October 2018 dismissed its concertmaster and principal trombonist after an investigation confirmed they had engaged in sexual harassment. In November, the Baltimore Symphony suspended its concertmaster because of allegations of misconduct. Former Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Charles Dutoit and countertenor David Daniels have largely been sidelined from their careers due to accusations.

The Metropolitan Opera, the largest musical organization in the country, is in the midst of a legal battle with its former music director, James Levine, who retired in 2016 after 45 years of association with the company. After retiring, Levine was named music director emeritus, but was dismissed from that post in March 2018, following a lengthy investigation that confirmed numerous accusations of sexual misconduct over many decades. Levine then sued the company, which in turn countersued. There was no morals clause in the contract between Levine and the opera. In 2017 the Boston Symphony Orchestra also severed all ties with the maestro, who was its former music director.