BREAKING NEWS: James Levine withdraws from all Met performances

It has just been reported that James Levine "has withdrawn from all performances at the Met for the rest of the year after falling while on vacation in Vermont and damaging a vertebra, the house said on Tuesday. Mr. Levine had emergency surgery on Thursday and was to have begun rehearsals on Monday. The injury comes on top of a series of back operations followed by periods of rehabilitation to correct a painful spinal condition, called stenosis."


As a result Fabio Luisi was named principal conductor and was handed most of Levine's engagements for the fall. James Levine remains music director. Mr. Levine said he “hopes to recover in time to return to the Met in January, for the new production of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung,” which opens on Jan. 27, and for the complete “Ring” cycles in April and May.


We wish him well and hope he has a fast recovery.