Young Singer Claims He Was Drugged, Raped by Opera Power Couple

A young, up-and-coming baritone singer has accused two of opera’s powerhouse stars of drugging and raping him in 2010, according to a Wednesday report from the New York Daily News. Samuel Schultz told the Daily News that he met David Daniels and Scott Walters at a closing party for the Houston Grand Opera’s Xerxes, in which Daniels had starred. He claims that the couple invited him back to an apartment, and that he only took a few sips of the drink they gave him before blacking out and waking up the next morning bleeding from his rectum. He was originally reticent to file a complaint, he added, because of Daniels’ and Walters’ prominence in the community. Daniels has been heralded as “the most famous countertenor in the world,” the Daily News notes, and Walters is a well-known conductor. But after learning that Daniels had earned tenure at the University of Michigan, Schultz said, he felt compelled to speak to the police. Both Daniels and Walters denied Schultz’s allegations, calling them “completely false.” The Houston Grand Opera also issued a statement to the Daily News, writing that the allegations are “very much in opposition to the professional environment we strive to provide [...] We will cooperate with any law enforcement inquiries and launch our own investigation once we know the full range of the allegations.”