As I have said in previous posts, this is a sad way for one of the greats of our time to exit the stage. Mr. Levine first conducted a Met performance of Tosca in 1971 and was named its principal conductor in 1973. Since that time, he has led over 2500 performances and turned the Met Orchestra into one of the finest ensembles in the world, offering a series of concerts from both the Met stage as well as Carnegie Hall.
The management at the Met has already named Fabio Luisi its principal conductor until Levine would be able to return. Given his recurrent health issues (which seem primarily focused on severe back pain) and the fact that he turns 70 in 2013, it is difficult to imagine Levine's return to the podium. One can only hope that the organization will offer an appropriate tribute to the conductor who has made the company among the best in the world.
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In other musical news around the globe:
- After finally admitting that nothing can be done to improve the acoustics in its pit, the Sydney Opera Orchestra will actually play in another room(!) with the sound transmitted electronically into the house during next year's Australian premiere of Korngold's Die Tote Stadt.
- Iris Wagner, great-granddaughter of the composer is suing the Bayreuth Wagner Foundation and the city of Leipzig for her share of Richard's Bechstein.
- Anthony Tommasini writes here of a resurgence among orchestras for new music! He notes, among the events at the New York Philharmonic that music director Alan Gilbert has elected to end the season at the Park Avenue Armory, one of few spaces large enough to accommodate a performance of Stockhausen's Gruppen. This entire article is a great read, discussing the uses of alternative performance spaces as well as new voices in "classical" music and opera.
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