James Levine, one of the most influential conductors of his generation, but whose career ended in ignominy, died on March 9 in Palm Springs, California at age 77. Levine occupied some of the most prominent positions in classical music: he was music director of the Metropolitan Opera for four decades, beginning in 1976. He also served as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2011, and was music director of the Ravinia Festival, where he led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s summer residencies from 1973 to 1993. At the Metropolitan Opera, he conducted more than 2,500 performances and is credited with transforming its orchestra into a top-ranked ensemble. At the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he programmed standard repertoire as well as works by Arnold Schoenberg, John Harbison, Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, and Elliott Carter.
Levine, born in Cincinnati, started musical life as a pianist. While still a teenager, he began conducting operas at the Aspen Music Festival and School. From 1964 to 1970, he was an assistant conductor at the Cleveland Orchestra, and in June 1971 he conducted his first Met performance, of Puccini’s Tosca. He became the Met’s principal conductor in 1973 before being named music director in 1976. In addition to canonic operas, he led the company’s first performances of operas including Mozart’s Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Schoenberg’s Erwartung and Moses und Aron, and Berg’s Lulu, as well as the world premieres of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby.
His later career was marked by multiple health problems—spinal stenosis, a torn rotator cuff, and Parkinson’s disease—and he began conducting from a motorized wheelchair. He resigned from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2011. He stepped down as music director at the Metropolitan Opera in 2016 to become music director emeritus.
His final years ended in scandal after several men went public with claims of sexual harassment and abuse by Levine. An investigation by the Metropolitan Opera found “credible evidence that Mr. Levine engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers.” Levine was fired in 2018. Levine denied the accusations and sued for breach of contract and defamation; he was awarded $3.5 million in a 2019 settlement. His final performance at the Met was Verdi’s Requiem, in December 2017.
