James Levine, who died on March 9, 2021. Photo by Richard Termine.
“James Levine, the guiding maestro of the Metropolitan Opera for more than 40 years and one of the world’s most influential and admired conductors until allegations of sexual abuse and harassment ended his career, died on March 9 in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 77,” writes Anthony Tommasini in Wednesday’s (3/17) New York Times. “The cause [of death] was not immediately released. After investigating accounts of sexual improprieties by Mr. Levine with younger men stretching over decades, the Met first suspended and then fired him in 2018…. Before the scandal emerged, he was a widely beloved maestro who helped define the Met … for decades, expanding its repertory and burnishing its world-class orchestra…. For seven years, starting in 2004, he was the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, earning high praise … for … championing contemporary music…. Mr. Levine also served as music director of the Munich Philharmonic for five years (1999-2004). He had long associations with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as music director of its Ravinia Festival for more than 20 years. His final years as a maestro were dogged by health crises…. In March 2011, facing reality, he resigned the Boston post.”
