In Tuesday’s (3/22) New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin reports, “Giving up the Boston Symphony Orchestra was not enough for James Levine‘s health. The Metropolitan Opera said on Monday that Mr. Levine, who is music director of both the Met and the symphony, will cut back on opera performances in the spring. The Met said in a statement that Mr. Levine needed more time ‘to recover from recent procedures to alleviate back pain.’ So he is bowing out of the two performances of Wagner’s ‘Rheingold’ (on March 30 and April 2) and a four-performance run of ‘Il Trovatore’ (on April 20, 23, 27 and 30). Fabio Luisi—whom the Met hired as a principal guest conductor for just such an eventuality—will take over the ‘Rheingold’ performances, and Marco Armiliato will lead the ‘Trovatore’ performances. As of Monday Mr. Levine still planned to conduct a run of Berg‘s ‘Wozzeck’; performances of Wagner’s ‘Walküre,’ the opera’s first in the Met’s new ‘Ring’ cycle directed by Robert Lepage; and two concerts at Carnegie Hall with the Met Orchestra.”
Posted March 23, 2011
