James Levine Gets The PBS Treatment
Last week, PBS aired a program in its American Masters series called James Levine: America's Maestro. The show included great footage showing how James Levine gets the results he does from his...
View ArticleThe Anatomy of An Opera Rehearsal: Shaping The Music
Many opera lovers I know no longer go to opening nights of the run of an opera, but for two very distinct and opposite reasons. Some of them prefer to go later in the run when they feel the cast has...
View ArticleLevine Cancels Fall Met Appearances; Luisi Named Principal Conductor
James Levine, the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, has cancelled his fall appearances at the Met, after falling and damaging his vertebrae on Thursday. He will be pulling out of new...
View ArticleRome Opera Irked at Luisi's Last-Minute Exit
Rome's Teatro dell'Opera says Fabio Luisi's last-minute bolting from his engagement to conduct Elektra so he could conduct at New York's Metropolitan Opera hurts the world of lyric opera. The Italian...
View ArticleMarilyn Horne Remembers Triumphs, Battles and 'Singing Everything'
Video: Marilyn Horne on Television StardomThe mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne ignited numerous trends in opera over the last half-century, including the bel canto revival of the 1960s, the growth of the...
View ArticleJames Levine Withdraws from 'Götterdämmerung' at Met
James Levine has canceled conducting the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Wagner's Goetterdaemmerung and is in danger of missing an entire season at the company for the first time since he made...
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The Wound That Does Not Heal
In Parsifal, Wagner’s last opera, there is a character named Amfortas who has an affliction, the wound that does not heal. A metaphor that is both poignant and relevant to our lives in so many ways. We...
View ArticleJames Levine Cancels all Future Conducting Dates at the Met
James Levine, suffering from debilitating back problems, will withdraw from the remainder of his performances this season as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. He has also announced that he...
View ArticleInheriting the Wind
In an unsurprising but significant move, James Levine is now on a breather from his duties at the helm of the Met until at least 2013.Much has already been made of Levine’s overextended schedule and...
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What the Best Conductors and Critics Can Teach Us
There is a well-known joke in the music world, one too long to recount here, about a blind rabbit and a blind snake. The snake does not know what he is and asks the rabbit to help him. The rabbit...
View ArticleJames Levine Plans Met Opera Return in May
James Levine plans to return to the podium at the Metropolitan Opera in May following a two-year absence, conducting from a wheelchair following a fall last year that left him partially paralyzed.The...
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You Pick the Piano Concerto
Beethoven Awareness Month's Marathon Sundays closes out this week with a Concerto marathon. To get you warmed up, our Showdown featured all of Beethoven’s piano concertos. We asked you which of these...
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Misconduct at the Opera House
Recently I had an experience that I wish I could get out of my head, but I cannot. One of my favorite operas was playing at the Met and I attended three performances. The cast was great and the...
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Pick the Piece That Puts James Levine Back on the Podium
After a two-year absence, James Levine is scheduled to return to the podium on May 19 to conduct the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. This Saturday, WQXR will bring you an interview with the maestro on...
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James Levine Plots His Conducting Comeback
If all goes according to plan, James Levine will be returning to the podium later this month. The music director of the Metropolitan Opera since 1976 is scheduled to lead the Met Orchestra in a concert...
View ArticleSaturday Morning Cartoons: Ride of the Valkyries
For this Saturday’s cartoon, we spotlight the Ride of the Valkyries, from Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle opera, Die Walkure. This music is featured in “What’s Opera Doc,” a 1957 cartoon directed by Chuck...
View ArticleBoston Symphony Names Andris Nelsons as New Music Director
The Boston Symphony Orchestra on Thursday named Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons as its next music director, ending a two-year search that began when James Levine stepped down in 2011 amid a series of...
View ArticleLevine and Horne Talk Great Voices
In advance of his comeback concert on Sunday at Carnegie Hall, conductor James Levine talks about trends in singing voices, including the current crop of tenors, the Italian style of singing, and past...
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Why are Opera Fans so Fascinated with James Levine?
In the Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin, Wagner depicts a vision of a Grail descending to earth. This Sunday, it will come with a special dramatic touch: an elevating podium, which will lift conductor...
View ArticleReview: James Levine, Wheelchair-Bound, Returns from 2-Year Absence
When James Levine conducted the Metropolitan Opera's matinee of Die Walküre on May 14, 2011, I was in the audience, hoping mightily that it would not be the last performance of his I'd see....
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Top Five Comeback Stories in Classical Music
The return of JamesLevine to the Metropolitan Opera orchestra podium last month, and news of a young opera singer’s success after undergoing a pair of double lung transplants, have reminded us of other...
View ArticleWhat Makes for a Winning Conductor?
I have heard more than a few conductors remark, when asked if there are any compensations for the inevitable fact that we are all getting older, that for a maestro his seventies can be a golden time....
View ArticleTop Five Key Dates to Mark on the Calendar this Fall
The start of the 2013-14 season is filled with question marks. Some point to the uncertainty of the future of classical music; others anticipate what we hope will be triumphant returns; and others ask...
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Review: James Levine Makes Solid Return in Met's Cosi fan tutte
James Levine seems at his best when he has his work cut out for him with some nice up-hill journey promising great artistic rewards. Of course his Metropolitan Opera admirers are just happy to have him...
View ArticleTop Five Longest-Serving Music Directors
Young conductors seem to be dominating the classical music headlines with a new exciting generation of maestros, including Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Pablo Heras-Casado and Lionel...
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New Releases: Handel's Belshazzar, James Levine's Comeback and More
FREE Download: The Met Orchestra plays Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin*We kick off the New Year with three recent and very distinct releases, including a Handel oratorio (and not Messiah), James...
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Analysis: The Metropolitan Opera’s 2014-2015 Season
Opera lovers everywhere, but especially in greater New York, await the announcement of a new Metropolitan Opera season anxiously and passionately. At its best, the Met can touch greatness more often...
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How Opera Productions are Revived
While new productions of operas tend to attract most of the attention when a company announces its next season, it is the revivals of existing productions that make up the lion’s share of performances....
View ArticleJames Levine Withdraws from 'Lulu,' Citing Schedule Demands
Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine said Friday that he is withdrawing from the company's upcoming production of Berg's Lulu in order to "focus his energies" on another opera on his fall...
View ArticleDomingo and Levine Partner for 'Simon Boccanegra'
On Saturday at 12:30 pm, two operatic legends partner to present Verdi's Simon Boccanegra from the Metropolitan Opera. James Levine conducts and Placido Domingo takes on the title role of the...
View ArticleHow Old Is Too Old for the Opera Stage?
I hear often from singers who suggest ideas for articles I might do. One of the most frequently mentioned is the delicate but important issue of why many artists who are past the age of 50 have trouble...
View ArticleAn Appreciation of the James Levine Era
The news of James Levine’s retirement as music director of the Metropolitan Opera cannot be considered a surprise but it is, nonetheless, one of those events music lovers everywhere will recall as a...
View ArticleJames Levine Set to Retire from the Met
After much speculation, debate and even New York Times-chronicled doctors visits, the beloved music director of the Metropolitan Opera, James Levine, 72, has announced that he will retire at the end of...
View ArticleSpeculation Begins on Levine's Successor at the Met
As the reality sinks in of James Levine's retirement at the end of this season as music director of the Metropolitan Opera, a list of potential successors is starting to take shape.The leading...
View ArticleA Verdian Season in New York
Giuseppe Verdi, that colossus of opera and courageous nation-builder, was celebrated in New York last week in four distinct ways. There were important visitors from Parma, where Verdi is venerated. A...
View ArticleEsa-Pekka Salonen Will Replace Levine in Met Orchestra Series
The holes on the Metropolitan Opera schedule caused by the retirement of music director James Levine are starting to fill up. A series of three concerts by the Met Orchestra to be presented at Carnegie...
View ArticleA Birthday for 'Für Elise'
On this day, 206 years ago, Beethoven wrote his Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor, which would eventually be known as "Für Elise," and forever burrow its theme into brains across the entire world. It's been...
View ArticleMarian Anderson to Appear on the $5 Bill
When the Department of the Treasury announced last month that it would place Harriet Tubman on the front of the $20 bill, demoting Andrew Jackson to the back, the news overshadowed another design...
View ArticleA Milestone for a New York Icon
In honor of Carnegie Hall's 125th Anniversary, our own Fred Plotkin has contributed a column sharing his cherished memories of the venerable institution. Over the course of a century and a quarter, the...
View Article'Abduction from the Seraglio' Marks Levine's Final Performance as Music...
For four decades, James Levine has steered the Metropolitan Opera as its music director, molding the orchestra into one of the best in the world and bolstering the house's international renown. This...
View ArticleLooking Back at Levine's Legacy
Saturday marks the end of an era: James Levine, who has spent more than 40 years honing the sound of the Metropolitan Opera, will conduct his last opera as music director, leading Mozart's Abduction...
View ArticleThe Top Moonlighters Are Crowned
After more than 170 entrants and 10,000 votes, WQXR crowned its top three amateur classical musicians in the inaugural Classical Moonlighters competition on May 6. Here are the videos of the winning...
View ArticleYannick Nézet-Séguin Named Met's Next Music Director
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the precocious music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has been selected to succeed James Levine as the next music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the company announced...
View ArticleA Wish List for Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Metropolitan Opera
The announcement that Yannick Nézet-Séguin would replace James Levine as music director of the Metropolitan Opera was no surprise. The timing was rather quick in that Levine announced on April 14 that...
View ArticleQuiz: A Classical Music Year-In-Review 2016
This year will be remembered for a lot of different reasons, including the goings on in the classical world. There were strikes, retirements, new albums and even a symphonic Super Bowl appearance. Take...
View ArticleThe Saturday Metropolitan Opera Matinee Returns With Verdi's ‘Requiem’
At 1 pm on Saturday, Dec. 2, the Metropolitan Opera begins a new season of their Saturday matinee radio broadcasts with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by James Levine and...
View ArticleMet Opera Suspends Ties to Conductor James Levine Following Sex Charges
New York's Metropolitan Opera says it's suspending its relationship with longtime conductor James Levine pending an investigation into multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him.In a...
View ArticleJames Levine in the News: Perspectives from Classical Music Critics
Last Saturday, the New York Post published an article detailing accusations of child sexual abuse against Metropolitan Opera Music Director Emeritus James Levine. By Sunday evening, after additional...
View ArticleWhat Are the Elements of Great Opera Conducting?
It is my pleasure, when I attend opera performances, to meet audience members who know my writing here at WQXR’s Operavore, have attended classes and lectures I give, or are familiar with work I have...
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Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro: Even Cherubino Gets an Arc
On Saturday at 1 pm, the Metropolitan Opera presents Sir Richard Eyre’s 2014 production of The Marriage of Figaro. Ildar Abdrazakov brings Mozart’s score to life as Figaro, with Marlis Petersen as the...
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