This just in from the Met press office: “On the advice of his doctors, James Levine will reduce his conducting dates at the Met for the rest of the current season while he continues to recover from recent procedures to alleviate back pain. His planned performances of Das Rheingold on March 30 and April 2 will be conducted by Fabio Luisi, while those of Il Trovatore on April 20, 23, 27, and 30 will be conducted by Marco Armiliato.

“Levine will conduct upcoming performances of Wozzeck (April 6, 9, 13. and 16), the new production of Die Walküre (April 22, 25, 28, May 2, 5, 9, and 14), and two concerts with the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (April 10 and May 15) as scheduled.”

La Cieca now predicts the order of cancellations of these remaining performances: Met Orchestra April 10, Wozzeck (most likely all of them), Walküre (all or most, announced one performance at a time.)

Note: this is not gloating; this is thinking realistically and unsentimentally about a huge millstone Levine has laid around the Met’s neck. The Boston Symphony had the balls to cut him loose; may we not hope that the maestro will do the right thing and spare his beloved home company the destructive dissension and strife that will result if they have to make that first move to get him out the door?

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