NEW YORK • He was a gifted Canadian clarinetist who had the chance to study under a renowned professor in Los Angeles - all expenses paid. But his girlfriend did not want him to leave Canada.

So she logged onto his e-mail account, intercepted his acceptance and turned down the offer, court records show. Then she sent him a fake rejection from the prestigious music programme, according to the lawsuit he filed in Ontario.

Now, a judge has ordered her to pay her former boyfriend C$375,000 (S$384,000) in damages and legal fees. "This was despicable conduct," Justice D.L. Corbett wrote in a judgment issued last week.

The clarinetist, Mr Eric Abramovitz, had been dating Ms Jennifer Lee, a fellow music student, for only a few months when he applied to the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles in 2013, court records show.

Mr Abramovitz hoped to study under Mr Yehuda Gilad, a distinguished clarinet professor who accepts just one or two students a year, according to the lawsuit.

In recent years, 80 per cent of the clarinet positions in North American orchestras were filled by Prof Gilad's students, the professor testified in court papers.

Mr Abramovitz, who had studied the clarinet since he was seven, dreamt of studying with the famous professor at a school that he could afford. But his application was rejected - or so he thought. So he completed his bachelor's degree at McGill University in Montreal.

At some point, he and Ms Lee broke up.

But Mr Abramovitz did not give up on his dream. In 2016, he travelled to California to audition a second time with Prof Gilad, who was confused: Had not this student already turned down the opportunity to work with him?

That was when the story began to unravel.

Mr Abramovitz asked Prof Gilad about the rejection e-mail he had received, from "giladyehuda09" on a Gmail account. Prof Gilad told him that was not his e-mail address.

Mr Abramovitz then filed a police report, court records show.

"I was both shocked and furious that someone had tried to impersonate me," Prof Gilad wrote in an affidavit. "I had never seen anything like this."

The professor testified in court documents that Mr Abramovitz had missed out on other opportunities and delayed his professional career by two years.

"I am very frustrated that a highly talented musician like Eric was the victim of such an unthinkable, immoral act," he wrote.

The judge agreed, awarding Mr Abramovitz C$300,000 for the value of the lost scholarship and income, as well as an additional C$75,000 for legal fees and compensation for having a "dream snatched from him by a person he trusted".

NYTIMES