Inside the spectacular blow-up between an opera singer and the Conservatorium of Music

Résumé détaillé

Hundreds of emails and texts – including one saying “I know what you love and I’ll do everything I can in order to destroy it” – were sent to two opera academics.

The cloistered world of Sydney’s harbourside Conservatorium of Music has been rocked by a scandal that has left staff in fear, an opera singer student banned and court orders put in place.

Court documents show that former Conservatorium student Janine Harris last year sent hundreds of emails and dozens of texts to two of her opera teachers over a three-month period.

Harris was forced to repeat a semester after failing to attend enough classes. “As a result, police form a view that the accused sent emails to the victims in a threatening, harassing and suicidal nature,” court documents state.

The barrage of correspondence came from her email and phone number, police say.

“Are you in Europe? Would you like to kill me in person? Or just buy me a beer?” she emailed one of her lecturers from Germany in July. A week later, she said: “I hope someone sent you the video! I’ll take my post down once you admit to f---ing me over.”

Three days later, she bemoaned his supposed lack of understanding: “Art isn’t meant to be shown, it is meant to be felt.”

She said a week later: “Shouldn’t have failed me in the first place or given me such a shitty role in flute.”

Harris was banned from university grounds and issued with a cease and desist letter, but the correspondence continued.

In quick succession on November 11, she texted one of her teachers: “Tell them why I failed”. “It had nothing to do with me missing a class”. “I would never f--- with a conductor like that in the real world, just as you wouldn’t cast inaccurately if you had a real job”.

Début de l'article, extrait de The Sydney Morning Herald. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.