DOUBLE BASSIST ADMITS SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON HIS STUDENTS
A globally recognized double bassist has confessed to sexually assaulting three of his young female students.Duncan McTier, aged 59, entered guilty pleas on Tuesday to two counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault involving young women at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester and the Purcell School in Hertfordshire during the 1980s and 1990s.
During a hearing at Liverpool crown court, it was revealed he admitted to groping a 21-year-old woman in 1994 and a 23-year-old woman in 1988, as well as trying to grope a 17-year-old girl in 1985.
All these incidents occurred at his residence.
The 1994 victim, whose identity remains confidential, expressed relief over the guilty pleas, stating it would prevent her from having to testify.
She remarked: “Duncan McTier’s conviction will send out a very strong message that it is not acceptable for teachers to abuse their positions of trust in this way, and that even two decades down the line, those who do so will be punished.
The relationship between a musician and her tutor is a very intimate one, which can be wonderful, but it is also open to abuse.
“Here I came forward purely because I want it to be made clear that you shouldn’t abuse this relationship.” She also shared that she had received messages from other women claiming they too had been assaulted by McTier, which led her to give up playing the double bass.
“This conviction vindicates a lot of women, not just from the Royal Northern College of Music,” she added.
“Hopefully future generations of musicians will be safer now.” Following his arrest in May, McTier was suspended from the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London but continued his teaching activities abroad, including at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste) and Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid.
He resigned from the RAM on the same day, with the Academy issuing a statement confirming his departure.
On his personal website, McTier describes himself as “recognized as one of the world’s foremost double bass soloists and teachers” and has received numerous positive reviews from critics.
McTier is among four former music educators from the RNCM and Chetham’s School of Music charged with sexual misconduct against students following the conviction last year of Michael Brewer.
Brewer, a former director of music at Chetham’s, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of five counts of indecent assault on his former pupil Frances Andrade.
His ex-wife, Hilary Kay Brewer, was convicted of one count of sexual assault.
Andrade tragically took her own life shortly after testifying against them.
In the wake of these convictions, several women have come forward alleging they were also sexually abused during their time as pupils at Chetham’s, prompting police in Greater Manchester to launch an extensive investigation called Operation Kiso.
Additionally, in September, conductor Nicolas Smith was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment after admitting to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Chetham’s student in the 1970s.
