RIP James Levine

[George K]

Dead at 77: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/17/834194609/james-levine-former-met-opera-music-director-is-dead-at-age-77?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=classical&utm_term=music&utm_content=20210317&fbclid=IwAR1qnLWm1tVPTLP9EaYcYPN2FwPAE0gf7tHL51y5uhTWZ69YKJZE1XyzADs

[George K]

Levine's last years:

Levine suffered recurrent health problems from age 63 onward, including severe back pain caused by a pinched sciatic nerve, and Parkinson’s disease. On March 1, 2006, he tripped and fell on stage while receiving a standing ovation at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He tore his right shoulder rotator cuff and had to have his muscles repaired surgically. At age 65, he had surgery to remove a cancerous kidney and at age 66, he missed three weeks of concerts for emergency back surgery for a herniated disk. The surgery was not successful so he missed the entire season of 2018 with the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He tried to return to conducting, but at age 68, he fell down a flight of stairs and fractured his spine while on vacation in Vermont. In 2013, at age 70, he conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall from a motorized wheelchair.