Discontent in Pineda over concert by tenor with several sexual assault allegations

BarcelonaIn December 2022 the ARA uncovered the allegations for sexual abuse against tenor Albert Deprius. Some cases had passed the statute of limitations, but two continued: one is awaiting trial, scheduled for December 2026; the second is in the Ninth Section of the Barcelona Provincial Court, awaiting a trial date. This second case involves a complaint of sexual assault against a minor between 2010 and 2014, when the girl was 14 years old and he was approaching 40. He was her teacher and director of the school in Arenys de Mar. As time has passed, and while the legal proceedings move slowly, Deprius has resumed his activities and is once again conducting the Armonía Choir and Symphony Orchestra of Calella de Mar. This past Sunday, January 18, he rented the Pineda de Mar Auditorium, and victims and feminist groups have expressed their discontent and rejection, which they have conveyed to the Maresme council.

"We can't oppose it; there's no court ruling, and they've paid the public fee and rented the auditorium," explained a spokesperson from the town hall. The council, led by the socialist Sílvia Biosca, met with the group representing the victims, expressed their support and understanding, but maintains that they cannot prevent the event from taking place. However, they haven't promoted it either: it doesn't appear on the municipality's cultural agenda, and the presentation of the Auditori's program has even been delayed by two days to avoid clashing with the concert that the Armonía Choir and Symphony Orchestra will give on Sunday. "He knows that people in Pineda don't like him," municipal sources pointed out.

"Giving him a platform is whitewashing very serious acts. Culture cannot be complicit in silence," lament local feminist movements, who denounce the fact that Deprius is given visibility considering the open cases against him and his prior record—the tenor reached an out-of-court settlement after a trial. They criticize the fact that the musician can act with "total impunity, living his life" while the victims are "questioned" at every turn.

"We believe that society is largely unaware of the extent of the damage he has caused," explains the victims' collective, which states that there are about twenty women who have found each other almost without looking for them, and therefore they are certain that there are many more. "Social cancellation doesn't exist," asserts one of these women, who laments that, aside from being able to perform a concert in a public venue, the musician has been interviewed by various media outlets in recent months and has already given more than one concert throughout Catalonia. Now, however, the event is being held in one of the municipalities where some of the people who are denouncing the tenor's behavior live and work. And this is causing them great pain.

One of the posters advertising Sunday's concert featured the logos of the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises (ICEC). Both organizations have confirmed to ARA that they have given "no support" to either the concert or the Armonía Symphony Orchestra. "The inclusion of the logo on the poster is a mistake, and we have already asked them to remove it," the ICEC stated. "The use of the logo is improper. We will contact this entity next week to request its removal," the Barcelona Provincial Council added a few days ago.

Many women affected

Aside from the two ongoing complaints, in 2016 a female employee of the music school reported him after he removed his trousers and underwear in front of her and made her uncomfortable inside an empty classroom. She warned him that she would scream if he entered the room where she had taken refuge, but he entered anyway. "He was the director, he had the power, and he played with that," recounts someone familiar with the events. The young woman ended up filing a criminal complaint, the case was dismissed, and before proceeding with civil action, an out-of-court settlement was reached to compensate the victim. Throughout 2022, other women told ARA that the musician used social media to try to get close to them. Several people, some adults and others minors, reported that the tenor wrote to them through Facebook and always steered the conversation toward the same topic: sex. In some cases, he even sent photographs, made insinuations about massages or being naked, and in the end, he asked them to delete the content of the conversation.

The ARA has tried to contact the Armonía Symphony Choir and Orchestra and Deprius himself, but, so far, has not received a response.