Idit Arad calls for better protection for music students as London college admits failing in its duty of care to herIt should have been the start of a great career in classical music for Idit Arad. Everything was lining up for the talented 18-year-old opera singer. She had arrived in London from Israel in 1987, the proud winner of a sought-after scholarship to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. But instead of building the foundations of a successful future, she was singled out by a tutor 20 years her senior for a long period of obsessive attention and abuse.Paul Roberts pursued her from their first lesson, Arad says, inviting her for coffee and then for a dinner to discuss her talent, before sending a stream of explicit letters, calling her a “witch” and urging her into sexual intimacy. Senior leadership, it is now admitted, knew of their involvement and yet failed to discipline Roberts. Continue reading...
In 1987, an 18-year-old opera singer, Arad, received a scholarship to Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she was subjected to obsessive attention and abuse by a tutor, Paul Roberts. Roberts pursued her with invitations, explicit letters, and demands for sexual intimacy. Guildhall recently apologized for failing in its duty of care and revealed they had found Roberts' behavior constituted "gross misconduct," a finding they withheld from Arad. Arad's experience highlights a pattern of misconduct within classical music institutions, and she advocates for mandatory safeguarding courses for teachers.
