Internationally acclaimed conductor admits sex attack on teenage girl at renowned Chetham's School of Music in Manchester

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 20:05 EST, 4 July 2014 | Updated: 09:56 EST, 5 July 2014

Facing jail: Renowned conductor Nicholas Smith pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a teenage girl

Facing jail: Renowned conductor Nicholas Smith pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a teenage girl

A renowned conductor and former teacher was facing jail last night after he admitted sexually abusing a pupil at one of Britain’s most prestigious music schools.

Nicholas Smith, 66, was charged with indecently assaulting a pupil at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, after the victim said she was molested aged 14 or 15.

At Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Smith of Malestroit, France, pleaded guilty.

The offence took place between May 1976 and May 1978, at Smith’s then home in the Peak District, the court heard. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Prosecutor Fran Gough said yesterday that Smith ‘abused his position of trust to groom and abuse the young girl’.

Smith was charged as part of Operation Kiso, an investigation triggered by the conviction last year of Michael Brewer, former director of music at Chetham’s.

He was found guilty of sexually assaulting pupil Frances Andrade, who killed herself after giving evidence against him.

Smith, formerly of Macclesfield, Cheshire, was music director in South Carolina between 1993 and 2007 and led the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland from 1982 to 1990.

According to his website, he has performed as a conductor in Spain, Poland, Germany, France, Northern Ireland and England, including for the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

He became principal conductor of the Northern Chamber Orchestra at the age of 22 and has conducted many productions at the Buxton Opera Festival, said his website.

During the 1990s he was artistic and executive director of Performing Arts Management and produced more than 300 major outdoor concerts in Britain. Between 1972 and 1974 he was a lecturer in music history at the Royal Northern College of Music.