James Levine

• Born: June 23, 1943
• Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Died: March 9, 2021
• Place of death: Palm Springs, California

American classical conductor

Levine transformed New York City’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra into a world-class ensemble and revitalized the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The Life

James Lawrence Levine (leh-VIN) was born to Helen Goldstein, an actress, and Lawrence (Larry), who played the violin and was a dance-band leader. At age three, Levine could pick out themes on the piano; he began formal lessons in 1947. He gave his first piano recital at age six. When he was ten, Levine was soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony, performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (1837). While developing his passion for the piano, Levine was introduced to opera at the Cincinnati Zoo Opera. The family attended performances of the Metropolitan Opera while it was on tour in Bloomington, Indiana, and it traveled regularly to New York City to attend performances. At age thirteen, Levine studied with pianist Rudolf Serkin at the summer Marlboro (Vermont) Music School and Festival. When a chorus master was needed for a student production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte (1790), Levine took the job. He later said this was the beginning of his career in opera.

The following summer Levine studied under pianist Rosina Lhevinne at the Aspen (Colorado) Festival and School of Music. He was a student for three summers, and in 1960 he became a performer as well. In 1961, at Aspen, he conducted his first opera, Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers (1863). That fall he moved to New York City and enrolled at the Juilliard School, studying conducting with Jean Morel and piano with Lhevinne. He was a finalist in the American Conductors Project, at which one of the judges was George Szell, conductor of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Szell invited Levine to become an apprentice in Cleveland, teaching him conducting. Following his apprenticeship, Levine became assistant conductor of the orchestra. In addition, Levine founded, managed, and conducted a student orchestra at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and he taught at Aspen. In 1970 he left the Cleveland Symphony to guest-conduct orchestras in the United States and Europe. From 1973 to 1993, he directed the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony.

The Music

Levine regularly conducted at the Salzburg Festival (1975-1993) in Austria and at the Bayreuth Festival (1982-1998) in Germany. He has guest-conducted world-class symphony orchestras, including the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. Noted for his minimalist conducting style, Levine quietly establishes a rapport with his musicians. He continues to appear as a piano soloist and piano accompanist in recitals of singers, including Christa Ludwig and Jessye Norman. Levine also performs in chamber music groups and has recorded more than two hundred works, symphonic and operatic. His principal accomplishments are with the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Metropolitan Opera. In June, 1971, Levine made his Metropolitan Opera debut, conducting Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca (1900). Levine had a guest-conducting contract for the 1972-1973 season, and the next season was named principal conductor. He then transformed an orchestra that had suffered neglect under a series of guest conductors into a world-class ensemble, setting the standard for how opera is to be performed. His style both supports and challenges the musicians. Through rehearsing and working on technique and details of the score, Levine patiently and enthusiastically molded the musicians into an ensemble capable of playing for the concert hall. Consequently, the orchestra has performed around the world. His artistic vigilance reflects that of Arturo Toscanini, whom Levine greatly admires. Toscanini’s dictum of playing the piece as the composer intended has been neglected by some, but not by Levine. Levine also revitalized the orchestra by including new works, some by Mozart and others by contemporary composers. In 1975 Levine was appointed music director and, in 1986, was named the first artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera.

Levine also earned the respect of singers. Baritone Sherrill Milnes remarked on Levine’s keen insight into a singer’s range and potential vocal problems. His concise, direct suggestions have helped singers, and many, among them soprano Kathleen Battle, paid tribute to him in a televised gala on April 27, 1996, celebrating Levine’s twenty-five years at the Metropolitan Opera. Levine is also noted for developing American singers, including Neil Shicoff and Dawn Upshaw. At the Metropolitan Opera, Levine has conducted more than 2,260 performances of eighty operas.

Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2002 Seiji Ozawa, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, stepped down after twenty-nine years. Levine had appeared as guest conductor with the orchestra since April, 1972, and he had won the respect of Boston’s audiences. Following a worldwide search, in 2001 Levine was named music director designate. Once he had completed contract obligations as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic (1999-2004) in Germany and had stepped down from artistic director at the Metropolitan Opera to music director, Levine assumed the directorship in Boston in the fall of 2004. He had already been working on programming, selecting new orchestra members, and doing what he excels in: transforming an orchestra. The Boston Symphony provided Levine the opportunity to commission and present new works, something he had not been able to do often at the Metropolitan Opera, and Boston audiences have been receptive to works by such contemporary composers as Elliott Carter and John Harbison. In addition, Levine has programmed concert versions of opera, including Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos (1867) and Richard Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander (1843). As music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Levine conducted at Tanglewood, the orchestra’s summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts. At the Tanglewood Music Center, he coached student conductors and musicians and worked with the student orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts, and conducted student players and singers in staged operas. After a series of health issues and a fall that left Levine with a torn rotator cuff, Levine resigned from the Boston Symphony in 2011.

In 2013, after extensive physical therapy, Levine returned to the Metropolitan Opera and conducted Mozart's Così fan tutte. Levine stepped down as musical director of the Metropolitan Opera in October of 2016 due to ongoing health concerns. In December of 2017, the Metropolitan Opera suspended Levine and canceled his upcoming performances after allegations were made against him of sexual misconduct in the late 1960s. Levine was later fired on March 12, 2018. He sued and a settlement was announced in August of 2019. Levine died from natural causes on March 9, 2021.

Musical Legacy

Levine re-created the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, and he found and nurtured such world-class singers as Battle and bass-baritone James Morris. Levine developed the orchestra to perform at more than a background level for the singers, and it eventually merited concert performances at Carnegie Hall and at European venues. He created the Live from the Met television opera series in 1977 for the Public Broadcasting System, bringing opera to a wider audience. In Boston, with his attention to detail and innovative programming, he renewed a legendary orchestra. He continues the legacy of Serge Koussevitzky by commissioning new works to be introduced by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. With his artistic vigilance and appetite for challenge, Levine has encouraged superior performances from musicians and singers.

Levine has received numerous accolades during his lengthy musical career, including a 2010 George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America.

Principal Recordings

albums (as conductor): Levine/Mahler: Symphonies No. 1 and 6, 1977; Puccini: La Bohème, 1977; Levine Conducts Mahler: Symphony No. 7, 1980; Puccini: Tosca, 1980; Mozart: Symphonies 40 and 41, 1981; Mozart: The Magic Flute for Children, 1982; Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos, 1983; Berlioz: Les Troyens, 1983; Brahms: The German Requiem, 1983; Verdi: Don Carlos, 1983; Rossini: L’Italiana in Algeri, 1986; Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, 1988; Mozart: Symphonies No. 35 and 36, 1989; Strauss: Concerto for Oboe in D Major, 1989; Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, 1990; Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro, 1990; Donizetti: L’Elisir d’Amore, 1991; Wagner: Siegfried Idyll, 1991; Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata, 1993; Verdi: Otello, 1995; Verdi: Rigoletto, 1993; Brahms: The Four Symphonies, 1997; George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess, 1998; Opera—Rossini: Barber of Seville (Highlights), 2000; Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos, 2002; Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen, 2002.

Bibliography

Cooper, Michael. "Met Opera Suspends James Levine After New Sexual Abuse Accusations." 3 Dec. 2017, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/arts/music/james-levine-met-opera.html. Accessed 4 Jan. 2018.

Dobkin, Matt. “Hey Baby, It’s Jimmy.” New York (January 16, 2006): 51. This article discusses Levine’s conducting style and his rapport with musicians.

Driscoll, Paul F. “Double Duty.” Opera News (July, 2005): 12-17. This article describes Levine’s challenge of revitalizing the Boston Symphony Orchestra while continuing his deep involvement at the Metropolitan Opera.

Hart, Philip. Conductors: A New Generation. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1979. This book includes a lengthy chapter on Levine and a critique of some of his recordings.

Marsh, Robert C. Dialogues and Discoveries: James Levine, His Life and His Music. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1998. This resource includes a series of interviews with Levine, along with a discography covering Levine’s recordings from 1979 to 1998 and a list of operas Levine conducted at the Metropolitan.

Tommasini, Anthony. “The Boston and the Met.” The New York Times, May 30, 2004. This story provides details on the history of Levine’s career and describes his enthusiasm for new challenges in Boston.