Here you come again Here you come again

By this point in 2020, nothing should surprise us.

on August 01, 2020 at 10:35 AM
Serial amuser Serial amuser

Disgraced former Met music director James Levinewas sighted at yesterday’s matinee performance of New York City Opera’s Brokeback Mountain.

on June 04, 2018 at 8:00 PM
Suit yourself Suit yourself

La Cieca just received a package of pdf files the sender says is a copy of James Levine‘s lawsuit against the Met.

on March 16, 2018 at 11:53 AM
“But what about black heel marks?” “But what about black heel marks?”

James Levine is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!

on March 16, 2018 at 12:11 AM
Endgame Endgame

The Metropolitan Opera fired James Levine this evening.

on March 12, 2018 at 5:10 PM
Annalepsis Annalepsis

James Levine has quietly been slotted into the spring reprise of the Met’s new Tosca.

on October 17, 2017 at 6:33 PM
And in the ‘how’ And in the ‘how’

Our selected Rosenkavalier video overview closes out the 20th-century selections, crosses the millennial mark, and includes the first of our performances to depart from the opera’s prescribed 18th-century setting.

on April 11, 2017 at 9:00 AM
Levine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Levine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

“How many years can you ask your subscribers to see the same production?”

on February 23, 2017 at 7:30 AM
Climbing Up the Ass II: The Climbening Climbing Up the Ass II: The Climbening

Incoming Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin lavishes praise on former Met Music Director James Levine for actually doing his job, for once.

on November 16, 2016 at 11:50 AM
Period piece Period piece

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production of L’Italiana in Algeri for the Met remains steadfastly ignorant of postcolonial theory.

on October 05, 2016 at 5:41 PM
Je ne suis pas précis ici Je ne suis pas précis ici

If you’ve been following the coverage of the Nézet-Séguin succession, you will note that a good deal of the coverage centers on whether the incoming maestro will “champion” this composer or that.

on June 04, 2016 at 6:03 PM
Just a song at twilight Just a song at twilight

“Mr. Levine was conducting his beloved Wagner for what was almost certainly the last time.”

on June 03, 2016 at 8:41 AM
Trauermarsch Trauermarsch

I can scarcely remember a performance where so many conflicting thoughts raced through my mind as happened Thursday night during the Met Orchestra’s “bleeding chunks” of Wagner’s Ring at Carnegie Hall.

on May 27, 2016 at 2:33 PM
Cold Turkey Cold Turkey

The no-star, slapstick revival of John Dexter’s 37-year-old production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail that opened Friday night proved James Levine’s tenure as Music Director of the Met will end in two weeks with neither a whimper nor a bang.

on April 25, 2016 at 10:00 AM
“Das Ende! Das Ende! “Das Ende! Das Ende!

“Maestro James Levine, the Met’s Music Director since 1976, announced that after 40 years in the position, he will retire at the end of the current season, for health reasons,” says the Met press office. 

on April 14, 2016 at 2:56 PM
Not only with words, but with lively gestures Not only with words, but with lively gestures

“I will never sing the role again. It was frightful. We were a set of madwomen…There is nothing beyond Elektra. We have lived and reached the furthest boundaries in dramatic writing for the voice with Wagner. But Richard Strauss goes beyond him. His singing voices are lost. We have come to a full stop.” 

on April 12, 2016 at 9:00 AM
Doge days Doge days

That Placido Domingo and James Levine, the Met’s inexorable septuagenarians, would team up yet again—on April Fools’ Day, no less—for a revival of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra occasioned an uncomfortable degree of doubt and dread.

on April 04, 2016 at 10:30 AM
The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season! The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season!

The Met’s 2016-2017 season opens on September 26 with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

on February 17, 2016 at 12:00 PM
The end is in the beginning and yet you go on The end is in the beginning and yet you go on

“…they hoped he would soon take on an emeritus position that would keep him involved in the company as part of a graceful exit.:

on February 13, 2016 at 6:30 PM
Well, you see, grandma was playing up on the roof… Well, you see, grandma was playing up on the roof…

James Levine, the longtime Metropolitan Opera music director whose health struggles recently brought him to the verge of retirement from that position, has canceled a series of concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra next week.”

on February 12, 2016 at 5:41 PM
Not nobody, not nohow! Not nobody, not nohow!

“Mr. Luisi won praise replacing Mr. Levine time after time, particularly in a costly version of Wagner’s Ring cycle—though, perhaps in a sign of the situation’s delicacy, the two conductors have never met in person.”

on February 04, 2016 at 10:25 AM
The double negative has led to proof positive The double negative has led to proof positive

La Cieca thinks she knows who the murderer is.

on February 03, 2016 at 10:50 AM
The toothless tiger rules the restless jungle The toothless tiger rules the restless jungle

It’s up to you, cher public, to try to decide for yourself what, if anything, this bizarre story in the New York Times means.

on February 01, 2016 at 11:26 PM
Eminence grise Eminence grise

Even when he’s not conducting the production, or, for that matter, even after the production is closed, Maestro Levine remains a presence on the Met’s website.  

on December 09, 2015 at 11:48 AM