Das Ende
James Levine will not conduct this spring or in the entire 2012-2013 season, says a press release from the Met. The most apparent result of this decision is that Fabio Luisi is now officially on the podium for all three of this spring’s Ring cycles. The complete press release follows the jump.
New York, NY (December 9, 2011) – Music Director James Levine will not conduct at the Metropolitan Opera for the remainder of this season, or during the 2012-13 season, in order to allow for a full recovery from the spinal injury he suffered last August. After falling while on vacation last summer, Levine underwent emergency surgery that forced him to withdraw from his performances in the first part of this season.
Due to the severe injury to his spinal cord, Levine’s doctors have said that his post-operative recovery will be a long-term process. Since September he has been at a rehabilitation facility, which he will be leaving shortly. While his condition has greatly improved in recent months, it is uncertain exactly when he will be fully recovered and able to return to conducting.
Following recent consultations with Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, Levine has decided not to conduct for the remainder of the current season, or for the entire 2012-13 season. Although he might be ready to start conducting sooner, the decision about next season had to be made now in order to secure the services of replacement conductors for the works Levine had been scheduled to lead. The Met’s 2012-13 season and casting will be announced this coming February.
“While this is a blow to Jim, our company, and his many fans, we want to make it possible for him to eventually return to the Met,” said Gelb. “The extended time off will give him the opportunity to recover fully, while also providing the Met with the chance to offer the best replacement conductors for next season.”
A personal statement from Levine follows this release (see below).
As Levine continues his recovery, it is anticipated that he will gradually resume his other Music Director duties including coaching and planning, and artistic leadership of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
Luisi, who has already substituted for Levine this season leading the new productions of Don Giovanni, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung, will also conduct the the cycles of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen this coming April and May, with the exception of the last two performances of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung on May 9 and May 12 matinee. Conductors for those two performances will be announced shortly.
The conductor who will replace Levine for the Met Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall on May 20 will also be announced shortly.
As planned, Luisi will conduct the new production of Manon, which premieres March 26, and the revival of La Traviata, which opens April 6, although he will be replaced for the last four performances of the Traviata run (April 21, 25, 28, and May 2) to allow for the Ring performances he will be taking on. The replacement conductor for the four La Traviata dates will be announced shortly.
Statement from Music Director James Levine
December 9, 2011
Early last summer I had to undergo three back surgeries to address a condition known as stenosis, from which I was suffering a great deal of pain. The issue has been successfully resolved, and I am no longer in any pain. But at the end of August, just a week before I was to begin rehearsing at the Met, I fell and injured my spinal cord, which required emergency surgery. Fortunately none of the earlier surgeries were compromised. Since then I have been in the hospital on a regimen of rehabilitation and intense physical therapy. After three months, I will finally return home at the beginning of next week but will continue the rehab and therapy as an out-patient.
Spinal cord injuries are well-known for taking a long time to heal. No two people recover at the same rate and the rehab typically is over a long period. Although my doctors and therapists have been very pleased with my progress, and I see the positive results, I am frustrated that I am not yet approaching a complete recovery. However, based on my progress during the initial phase of recovery, my doctors and therapists feel that, given time and continued therapy, the prognosis is excellent.
Since the Met must plan its seasons far in advance, I am now in the position of having to predict when I will again be ready to conduct. I have met at length with Peter Gelb and other members of the Met family to discuss this. We have come to the conclusion that it would be profoundly unfair to the public and the Met company to announce a conducting schedule for me that may have to be altered at a later date. I do not want to risk having to withdraw from performances after the season has been announced and tickets sold. With that in mind, I have reluctantly decided not to schedule performances until I am certain I can fulfill such obligations. The Met’s 2012-13 season needs to be finalized, and the best conductors available must be contracted now. As my condition improves, I feel confident I will be ready to conduct again soon, but I cannot risk a premature announcement. It is disappointing to come to this conclusion, but I know it is the right one.
On a more positive note, I look forward to resuming my other responsibilities as Music Director. I will continue to collaborate with Peter Gelb on long-term artistic plans, work with the artistic administration on future planning, coach singers, and work with the participants in the Lindemann Young Artist Development program.
I am particularly grateful to Fabio Luisi and the other conductors who have taken over my duties, often on short notice, and I am delighted that Fabio is now a more permanent part of the Met team in the important role of Principal Conductor.
It’s very frustrating that Luisi’s only conducting two of the four parts to the third cycle. I bought a ticket to the third cycle and am really annoyed that one conductor’s not leading the entire cycle.
Why can’t they have Jiri Belohlavek conduct one Cycle? I liked the Tristan Und Isolde DVD he did with Stemme. He’s in New York anyhow for Makropolus. He would have to conduct a Makropolus and Rheingold on the same day, but if Levine was able to do the Rheingold and Boston concert in one day, I don’t see why he couldn’t do two at the same house.
Talk about burying a guy before he’s dead….I must be missing something. I hope he recovers well and goes on to keep on doing what he has done so well.
But he hasn’t actually ‘done’ anything for some time.
No one is disputing that Levine is undoubtedly one of the finest musicians of our time- but his (understandable!) refusal to acknowledge the physical realities are hobbling the institution’s larger mission and artistic planning. Any house producing a full Ring is making a strong artistic statement on who they are- that the Met now has to scramble (as much as one of the world’s Big 4 has to ‘scramble’, anyway) to find conductors is intolerable.
Can the Met schedule Levine for anything in the 12-13 season, and if they can’t in confidence, why is he still there?
It is sad to see anyone’s body start to fail them when their mind is still sharp, but what is sadder is watching this drag on interminably.
Considering his anniversary gala was about three days long, suggest we place bets on the length of his farewell gala. Six weeks? A whole season? Or is this permanent farewell the meta-gala-to-end-all-galas?!
“John Keenan” -- has anyone heard of him? he led performances of meistersinger in cincinnati several years ago. this was publicized as major event in which hometown boy JAMES LEVINE was to conduct. not surprisingly, HE cancelled and the production was subsequently scaled back very significantly on singing and production fronts. but keenan was touted as a major coup -- the gifted right hand man of levine. the performance was credible yet in reality his presence as a major player seems negligible. it would seem he is not considered as “replacement worthy.” any thoughts?
Agreed. He led a fine performance but he’s not on the top flight radar screen. Friends in the orchestra and opera chorus told me how much they liked him and respected his leadership but he’s not a conendah.
What a sad day for the Met and more especially for Mr. Levine. It is obviously the right decission but cannot have been easy for him to make. We can all only hope that he makes a full recovery to a healthy state in which he is able to resume his conducting duties. The opeartic world is a poorer place without him in it. As to the third Ring Cycle, I would hope that if some reasonable conductor were available for the entire cycle, they would get the job. Having two conductors is nowhere near satisfactory!! How about trying Mark Elder? -- his recent forays into the Ring with the Liverpool Philharmonic are very encouraging. In the meantime, very best wishes to Mr. Levine for a speedy recovery.
Small point, but Mark Elder’s Ring performances were with Manchester’s Halle orchestra. Chief Conductor at the RLPO is Vasily Petrenko.
Stupid me, of course it was the Halle Orchestra.
Mark Elder? A Wagnerian Pygmy compared to Robert Spano!
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Very saddening news, Manou. Of course a great artist like Mme Mundi never really dies but lives on in our hearts as well as on disc. R.I.P., Gloria.
….I am now told this actually means “Gloria threw up in the bus”
…to be precise : “Gloria thew up in the bus on Monday”. Apologies.
And to be perfectly precise : “Gloria threw up in the bus on Monday”
you must have made a super effort for that one, totally corny !
Papopera -- apologies if I have offended you.
Thank heavens, Manou! I thought you were saying that Mme Mundi had been HIT by a bus, certainly not the most dignified death for an artist of Glora’s stature.
I simply MUST brush up on my Latin.
Ave atque vale.
“Ava Gardner was at the Valley?” Say what? Was she hanging out with Gloria? Were they there for an HD? And why were they speaking Latin on the bus, anyway?
Ava and Gloria were in a Fiat (a small Voluntas Tua) which broke down in the valley, so they had to take the bus -- but Gloria had been drinking at the Vivat Bacchus tavern (without her father), which precipitated the vomitory outcome.
Well, the way I heard it, Gloria was drinking in the Excelsis Deo and she was driving a Terra Pax (I think that’s one of those new eco-cars). But I guess you just can’t trust gossip.
I believe that someone is confusing Gloria Mundi with Gloria Dei. The two are barely on speaking terms, much less traveling-together terms.
PS Gloria Dei never travels without her father. That’s how I tell them apart.
I should add that the bus was a De Gusti, driven by dumb Spiro.
And Ava Gardner had nothing to do with either of them.
It might have been her alter ego Ave Maria -- the one with the neck plus halter. Or it could have been the factor at a priory.
Oh, no! Not THAT Gloria Mundi, who drove our school bus back in the day. Her driving was so bad that she made HERSELF carsick, in addition to the rest of us. The mess every day was unbelievable.
Of course! Norman Tuum! But I thought he was having an affair with Debbie Tanostra, no?
He went on to work for Nonsequi Tours, but caught his toes in the machine and sadly perished. De Profundis.
No, Norman has been institutionalized for some time now ever since he tried to stab at his mater.
Institutionalized in a former cathedral?
Goat song upon goat song! Would that be Mater Dolorosa?
Well, you see, he thought it was Mater Dolorosa but it turned out to be Janet Leigh.
As I stated before, he is not coming back. If he does, it will be a one time thing for a special concert/performance of some kind. I agree with the others that say this is way too drawn out of an exit.
It sounds to me as though Levine hopes (reasonably or not—only his doctors can say, and no one can know for sure) that he can make a full enough recovery after more time off that he can come back for a final two or three seasons before retiring.
He’ll be turning 70 in 2013, which is hardly mandatory retirement age for many conductors. If (and I realize it’s a big if) his health cooperates and his duties (on the podium and elsewhere) are strategically planned I think he could still make a (semi-) triumphant return and a glorious Farewell.
If his recovery is less successful, on the other hand…
…and if his problems are really what they tell us.
There’s wisdom behind Levine’s wanting to continue as the Met’s music director. Have to assume, of course, that he believes he’ll recuperate and will be able to conduct again. IF he does recuperate he could have ten or fifteen more years of active career as a conductor.
As music director at the Met he could influence the repertoire and schedule of future seasons with potential conducting openings for him. That way once he’s fit to conduct, he could be conducting at the Met in matter of weeks. And he would be conducting what he wants and most likely with singers of his choosing. If he resigns, he would have to start from scratch getting engagements. Yes, most likely the Met would be very accomodating, but it wouldn’t be the same.