In July, a baritone singer named Samuel Schultz wrote an essay about a past experience in which he was raped.
“I have been terrified to talk about this publicly. … There was a legitimate danger of always destroying my career by reporting someone else’s assault against me. Because of this, I have lived with the fear of exclusion and being silenced.”
At the time, Schultz chose not to identity the people who raped him, but he has now.
According to Daily News, Schulz has identified world-famous countertenor David Daniels and conductor Scott Walters, who are married, as his rapists. In addition, he has filed a lawsuit against them.
Schultz claims that in 2010, when he was a 23-year-old graduate student at Rice University, he was raped by the two.
Specifically on May 14, 2010, Schultz was invited by the two to a corporate apartment after a Houston Grand Opera Performance. While there, he accepted a drink and says he only remembers taking a few sips before blacking out.
As he wrote in the police complaint, he woke up the next day, “in a bed alone, completely naked. I was sore and I didn’t know why. I made my way to the bathroom to figure out why I hurt. I was bleeding from my rectum. I became numb. I was paralyzed with fear. What had happened? How could I escape? How would I get out? Where were my clothes? I tiptoed out of the bedroom to discover that David and Scott were not there. When they came back from eating somewhere, I think they asked if I had a good time. … I remember David saying, ‘Don’t worry about the BB thing, I’m totally negative.’ BB in this case meant bareback, otherwise known as raping me without a condom.”
According to Daily News, Schultz was too fearful to report the incident until now because he heard that Daniels had made tenure at the University of Michigan and will be within reach of more aspiring singers.
Meanwhile, the couple have both denied Schultz’s claims.
“Other than I deny these allegations, I have nothing to say. They're completely false,” said Daniels. Though, Daniels took a leave of absence from his job at the University of Michigan after news hit of the accusation.
As for Schultz, he says he will continue to fight and be vocal against his alleged aggressors while the police continue to investigate. So far, there have been no arrests.
h/t: The Daily News
David Daniels was brave in
David Daniels was brave in coming out and makes no excuses for his being who he is, but not everyone in the music world is convinced the counter tenor voice is natural or healthy any more than the castrato voice was a great idea. Very rarely do they hold up even in small opera houses, so not everyone would consider Daniels one if the biggest musical talents as the title suggests, and regarding Walters, Daniels is his meal ticket. Biggest talent?
Whether they are guilty or not, I have no idea but your headline is misleading.