Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig Sentenced Following Child Sex Offences

Latham-Koenig was given a fourteen month sentence in prison, which will be suspended for two years

This past February, Jan Latham-Koenig pleaded guilty to several child sex offenses. According to the BBC, he has since been sentenced to 14 months in prison "for attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming" and "for arranging or facilitating the commission of a sexual offence with a child" between December 9, 2023, and January 11, 2024.

Although the judge, Alexander Milne, said the conductor's behavior had been "deeply worrying," he also noted that Latham-Koenig had been "humiliated in the public eye." Milne also said that "there is clear remorse on the part of the defendant and that he has suffered." Latham-Koenig's sentence was suspended for two years.

Prosecuting barrister Jason Seetal had originally explained to London’s Southwark Crown Court that Latham-Koenig struck up a conversation on a dating app with an undercover police officer, who was posing online as a fourteen-year-old boy. Latham-Koenig arranged to meet the "minor" in person at a nearby cafe, but was arrested upon arrival.

Judge Alexander Milne recently revealed that "there was discussion of them going further than merely talking" ahead of the meeting. The court also heard that Latham-Koenig (70) lied about his age and pretended to be 49 years old in the interaction.

Lastly, Milne explained that the conversations were of a sexual nature on a number of occasions, including inappropriate photographs. The conductor was also given 10 months of imprisonment for engaging in sexual communication with a child, which will run concurrently with the other sentences.

Born in England and of French, Danish, and Polish ancestry, Jan Latham-Koenig is the founder and Artistic Director of the Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra. From 2011, he served as the principal director of Moscow’s Novaya Opera and became its artistic director in 2013 — a position he left in March 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was awarded the OBE in 2020 for services to music and UK-Russian cultural relations.