In Saturday’s (12/10) New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin reports, “James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera’s ailing music director, has withdrawn from conducting at the house this season and the next, the Met and Mr. Levine said on Friday. Mr. Levine cancelled the last remaining dates on his schedule—two cycles of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in April and May—and withdrew from all productions he had planned to lead next season. Fabio Luisi, the Met’s principal conductor and Mr. Levine’s stand-in, will take over the Ring performances except for the last two dates, a May 9 Siegfried and a May 12 Gotterdammerung. Replacements are being sought for those two performances, along with productions next season that had been planned for Mr. Levine and a May 20 concert by the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The 2012-2013 season is expected to be announced in February. … Mr. Levine said that although he was making progress and had an excellent prognosis, his complete recovery was unpredictable.”
Posted December 12, 2011
