NEW YORK, NY.- Trinity Wall Street, one of New York’s wealthiest and most powerful churches, said Saturday that it was placing its high-profile director of music on leave as it investigates an allegation of sexual misconduct against him.

The director, Julian Wachner, a highly regarded conductor, composer and keyboardist who has been a fixture at the church for more than a decade, has been accused by a former Juilliard employee, Mary Poole, of sexual assault. Poole said in an interview with The New York Times that during a music festival in 2014, Wachner pushed her against a wall, groped her and kissed her, and that he ignored her demands that he stop. Wachner denies the accusations.

In a statement to the Times on Saturday, Trinity did not mention Poole by name but said the church first learned of “allegations of sexual misconduct” against Wachner last month from social media. Poole recently posted a detailed account of her encounter with Wachner on her social media accounts, saying, “I was totally violated.”

Trinity said it had hired outside counsel to investigate. “Julian was placed on administrative leave on March 1 and will remain on leave during the investigation,” the church said.

Wachner, through an attorney, denied the accusations.

“We respect Trinity’s decision to conduct a thorough investigation,” said the attorney, Andrew T. Miltenberg. “Ms. Poole’s outrageous allegations are categorically false, and my client looks forward to the matter being resolved. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation we cannot comment further at this time.”

Poole helped organize a 2014 Juilliard festival in Aiken, South Carolina, that featured Wachner and the acclaimed Trinity choir. In the interview, Poole said that one evening, at a house where Juilliard staff members were staying, Wachner asked her to get him a drink. While she was preparing the drink in the kitchen, she said, he began to grope and kiss her for almost two minutes, even as she told him repeatedly to stop.

Two people interviewed by the Times — a friend of Poole and a former colleague — recalled hearing Poole describe the details of the encounter with Wachner at the time. Poole said she did not report the incident to police.

Poole reported the incident to Juilliard, which vowed not to hire Wachner again.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.