Tuesday (8/16) on the New York Times blog ArtsBeat, Daniel J. Wakin reports, “James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera’s music director, has received two previously undisclosed back operations since the spring, when he canceled a Met tour to Japan and his schedule at the Tanglewood Music Festival, his brother said on Tuesday. But now, without the excruciating pain that has plagued him over the last several years because of back problems, Mr. Levine is planning to begin rehearsing at the Met right after Labor Day and has not canceled any performances, said his brother, Tom Levine. ‘The surgeries have done what they’re supposed to do,’ he added. … Levine, 68, has withdrawn from numerous performances in recent seasons because of various health problems. In March he stepped down as the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Last year he had a major operation to address spinal stenosis, which causes painful compression of the spinal cord. … The stenosis problem recurred, so another operation came on July 20, timed to give him enough of a recovery and rehabilitation period so he could be ready to conduct at the Met. … The conductor is scheduled to make his first appearance of the season leading ‘Don Giovanni’ on Oct. 13.”
Posted August 17, 2011
