James Lawrence Levine (born June 23, 1943; died March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He served as the music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016 and led 2,577 performances there. Near the end of his career, his reputation was damaged by serious accusations of sexual misconduct that occurred over 50 years earlier. Levine denied the claims, but the Met found them believable enough to dismiss him in 2018.

Levine began playing piano publicly at age 10 as a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He studied with teachers Walter Levin, Rudolf Serkin, and Rosina Lhévinne before joining the Juilliard School of Music, where he learned conducting from Jean Paul Morel. He graduated in 1964 and became an apprentice to George Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra. He first conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1971.

Levine held leadership roles at the Ravinia Festival, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1980, he created the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, which helped train singers, conductors, and musicians for professional careers.

From 2011 to 2013, Levine took a two-year break from conducting due to health reasons. During this time, he worked on artistic and planning projects at the Met and continued training young musicians in the Lindemann program. After the 2015–16 season, he retired as the Met’s full-time music director and became Music Director Emeritus, keeping oversight of his young artist program and some conducting duties.

In 2016–17, several men accused Levine of molesting them when they were young musicians decades earlier. Police investigations did not lead to criminal charges, but organizations like the Ravinia Festival and the Boston Symphony Orchestra ended their relationships with him. After being fired by the Met, Levine sued the organization for breaking a contract and harming his reputation. The case was settled privately, and the New York Times reported the settlement amount was $3.5 million.

Levine’s performances were recorded in audio and video formats. He appeared in the Disney film Fantasia 2000 and conducted all new music for the film with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Early years and personal life

Levine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a Jewish family with a strong musical background. His mother's father was a composer and a singer in a synagogue. His father, Lawrence, was a violinist who played in dance bands under the name "Larry Lee" before working in his father's clothing business. His mother, Helen Goldstein, briefly acted on Broadway under the name "Helen Golden."

Levine had a brother named Tom, who was two years younger. Tom moved to New York City with Levine in 1974 and remained very close to him. Levine hired Tom to help with his business tasks, such as managing his schedule, answering questions, finding places to live, meeting with accountants, and traveling to Europe with Levine. Tom was also a painter. Levine's younger sister, Janet, works as a marriage counselor.

Levine began playing the piano as a young child. On February 21, 1954, when he was 10 years old, he performed as a soloist playing Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 2 at a youth concert with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Later, he studied music with Walter Levin, a first violinist in the LaSalle Quartet. In 1956, he took piano lessons with Rudolf Serkin at the Marlboro Music School in Vermont. The following year, he studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne at the Aspen Music School.

Levine graduated from Walnut Hills High School, a special school in Cincinnati. In 1961, he enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where he studied conducting with Jean Morel. He graduated from Juilliard in 1964 and joined the American Conductors project, which was connected to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Levine lived in The San Remo, an apartment building on Central Park West in New York City.

Career

From 1964 to 1965, Levine worked as an apprentice with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. He later became the Orchestra's assistant conductor and held this role until 1970. In 1970, he also led his first performances as a guest conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Robin Hood Dell, the Welsh National Opera, and the San Francisco Opera. From 1965 to 1972, he taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music. During summers, he worked at the Meadow Brook School of Music in Michigan and the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois, which is the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During this time, Levine gained a strong following among young musicians and music lovers.

In June 1971, Levine was asked to replace István Kertész at the last minute to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Mahler's Second Symphony for the Ravinia Festival's opening concert of its 36th season. This performance began a long partnership with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. From 1973 to 1993, he served as the music director of the Ravinia Festival, taking over after Kertész. He recorded many works with the orchestra, including symphonies and the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms, as well as major pieces by Gershwin, Holst, Berg, Beethoven, Mozart, and others. In 1990, at the request of Roy E. Disney, he arranged and conducted the music for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the soundtrack of Fantasia 2000, released by Walt Disney Pictures. From 1974 to 1978, he also directed the Cincinnati May Festival.

Levine made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera a few weeks before his 28th birthday, on June 5, 1971, conducting a performance of Puccini's Tosca. After more performances with the company, he became its principal conductor in February 1972. He was named the company's music director in 1975. In 1983, he conducted and directed the musical aspects of the Franco Zeffirelli film adaptation of Verdi's La Traviata, which featured members of the Met's orchestra and chorus. He became the Met's first artistic director in 1986 and held this title until 2004. In 2005, his combined salary from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Met made him the highest-paid conductor in the United States, earning $3.5 million.

During his time at the Met, the orchestra expanded its work to include recordings and concert series for the orchestra and smaller groups at Carnegie Hall. Levine led the Met on many tours across the United States and internationally. For the 25th anniversary of his Met debut, he conducted the world premiere of John Harbison's The Great Gatsby, a piece created for this occasion. When Peter Gelb became the Met's general manager, he stated that Levine could continue directing music at the Met as long as he wished. In 2010, the Met paid Levine $2.1 million.

After experiencing health issues following a fall, Levine reduced his involvement with the Met. He officially stepped away from Met performances after a May 2011 performance of Wagner's Die Walküre. After two years of physical therapy, he returned to conducting in May 2013 with the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. On September 25, 2013, he conducted his first Met performance since 2011, in a revival of Mozart's Così fan tutte. He was scheduled to conduct three productions at the Met and three at Carnegie Hall during the 2013–14 season.

On April 14, 2016, the Met announced that Levine would leave his position as music director at the end of the 2015–16 season. The Met paid him $1.8 million for that season. He then held the title of Music Director Emeritus until December 2017, when the Met ended its relationship with him after allegations of sexual abuse involving four young men.

In total, Levine conducted 2,577 performances at the Met, the most of any conductor and second only to tenor Charles Anthony for the most appearances by any individual artist with the company.

Levine first conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in April 1972. In October 2001, he was named the BSO's music director, starting in the 2004–05 season, with a five-year contract. He became the first American-born conductor to lead the BSO.

One special agreement Levine made was allowing more time for rehearsals, which helped the orchestra prepare for difficult pieces. After he began his role, the BSO created an "Artistic Initiative Fund" of about $40 million to support his projects.

Some critics noted that Levine did not attend many orchestra auditions. A 2005 report said he attended only two out of 16 auditions during his time as music director. Levine explained that he could provide input on musician decisions after the initial probationary period and that it takes time to assess how well a musician fits a role. He stated, "My message is the audition isn't everything."

Another 2005 report mentioned that the BSO musicians faced increased physical stress due to playing more unfamiliar and contemporary music. Levine and the musicians discussed this, and he made changes to his programming to reduce these challenges. He received praise for improving the orchestra's quality and expanding its repertoire.

Levine faced ongoing health issues, including a torn rotator cuff from a fall in 2006. In April 2010, it was revealed that he had not signed a contract extension, making him the BSO's music director without a signed agreement. On March 2, 2011, the BSO announced that Levine would resign as music director, effective September 2011, after the Tanglewood season.

The composer John Harbison dedicated his Symphony No. 6 "in friendship and gratitude" to Levine, as Levine could not conduct the premiere due to his departure from the BSO.

After allegations of sexual abuse were made public in December 2017, the BSO stated that Levine "will never be employed or contracted by the BSO at any time in the future."

Levine's contract with the BSO limited his guest appearances with American orchestras, but he continued to conduct in Europe, including with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and at the Bayreuth Festival. He was a frequent guest with the Philharmonia of London and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Beginning in 1975, he conducted regularly at the Salzburg Festival and the July Verbier Festival. From 1

Work with students

In 1980, Levine started the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. This program trains singers who have already graduated from school. Many famous singers are now alumni of this program.

From 1999 to 2006, Levine was the conductor of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra. This is the student orchestra at the annual summer music festival in Verbier, Switzerland. This was Levine’s first long-term job leading a student orchestra since he became music director at the Met.

After becoming music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Levine also led the Tanglewood Music Center. This is the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s well-known summer program for students who play instruments, sing, write music, or conduct. At Tanglewood, Levine conducted the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, directed fully staged opera performances with student singers, and taught master classes for singers and conductors.

Levine said in an interview:

Even when his health problems prevented him from conducting, he continued to work with young students. He received the Lotus Award, which honors people who inspire young musicians, from Young Concert Artists. In 2016, Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times: "The singers in the Met’s young artist development program, one of many important projects Mr. Levine started, should know how lucky they are to have a teacher and mentor who, even in his 20s, worked at the Met with famous musicians like Jon Vickers and Renata Tebaldi."

Health problems and death

Levine had repeated health problems starting in 2006, including sciatica and what he described as "intermittent tremors." On March 1, 2006, he fell onstage during a standing ovation after a performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and injured his right shoulder’s rotator cuff. This injury forced him to assign the remaining Boston subscription concerts to his assistant conductor at the time. Later that month, Levine had surgery to repair the injury. He returned to conducting on July 7, 2006.

In 2008, Levine withdrew from most of the Tanglewood summer season because he needed surgery to remove a kidney with a malignant cyst. He returned to conducting in Boston on September 24, 2008, at Symphony Hall.

On September 29, 2009, it was announced that Levine would have emergency back surgery for a herniated disk. This caused him to miss three weeks of performances.

In March 2010, the Boston Symphony Orchestra announced that Levine would miss the rest of the Boston Symphony season due to back pain. On April 4, 2010, the Met also announced that he would withdraw from the rest of his performances for the season. The Met stated that Levine needed "corrective surgery for an ongoing lower back problem." He returned to conducting at the Met and the BSO at the start of the 2010–11 season but canceled his Boston engagements in February 2011.

In the summer of 2011, Levine had further surgery on his back. On September 29, 2011, after falling down a flight of stairs while on vacation in Vermont, fracturing his spine and injuring his back, the Met announced he would not conduct at the Met for the rest of 2011.

After two years of surgery and physical therapy, Levine returned to conducting for the first time on May 19, 2013, in a concert with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He used a motorized wheelchair and a special platform designed to accommodate it, which could rise and descend like an elevator. He returned to the Met on September 24, 2013. The same platform was used in the Met orchestra pit for his performance that day.

For many years, both Levine and the Met said rumors about Levine having Parkinson’s disease were not true. As New York magazine reported, "The conductor states flatly that the condition is not Parkinson’s disease, as people had speculated in 'that silly Times piece.'" However, in 2016, both he and the Met confirmed the rumors were true. Levine had actually had Parkinson’s disease since 1994. The Washington Post noted: "It wasn’t just the illnesses, but the constant alternation between hiding the information and then sharing too much that kept so much attention focused on them and away from the music."

Levine died in his Palm Springs home on March 9, 2021. His personal physician, Len Horovitz, announced his death on March 17, stating he had died of natural causes. There was no public funeral or memorial service, and his burial location was not made public.

Sexual assault allegations

In late 2017, many people accused James Levine of sexually abusing four men. The abuse reportedly happened when the men were 16, 17, 17, and 20 years old, between the 1960s and 1990s. On December 2, 2017, a police report from October 2016 was made public. It stated that Levine had allegedly sexually abused a teenage boy for many years. This abuse began when Levine was a guest conductor at the Ravinia Music Festival, near Chicago. He had been the music director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s summer events from 1973 to 1993.

One person claimed that in the summer of 1968, when he was 17 and attending Meadow Brook School of Music in Michigan, Levine, who was 25 at the time, had sexual contact with him. The accuser said he later told Levine that he would not repeat the behavior but asked if they could continue making music. Levine said no. The accuser later became a bass player in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and a professor.

Another person said that in the same summer, Levine had sexual contact with a 17-year-old student and began a series of sexual encounters. A second person confirmed this, though they asked to remain anonymous. The next year, in Cleveland, where Levine was an assistant conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra, he reportedly had sexual contact with that student and others.

A third accuser, a violinist and pianist who grew up near the Ravinia Music Festival in Illinois, said Levine sexually abused him when he was 16 years old in 1986. Levine was in his 40s at the time. The accuser had reported the abuse to the Lake Forest Police Department in 2016. The police said they could not charge Levine in Illinois because the accuser was 16 at the time, which met the legal age of consent in Illinois then.

On December 4, 2017, a fourth man said he was abused by Levine starting in 1968, when he was 20 and attending Meadow Brook School of Music. Levine was a teacher in the summer program.

The New York Times reported that the Metropolitan Opera had known about at least one sexual abuse allegation against Levine as early as 1979 but dismissed it as false. Met officials, including General Manager Peter Gelb, were aware of the third accuser’s 2016 police report and the investigation into it. However, the Met did not suspend Levine or investigate him until December 2017, over a year later.

After the December 2017 news article, the Met said it would investigate the abuse allegations from the 1980s mentioned in the 2016 report. On December 3, after two more accusers came forward, the Met ended its relationship with Levine and canceled all his upcoming events. A fourth accuser came forward the next day.

In April 2017, the Ravinia Festival gave Levine an honorific title called “Conductor Laureate” and signed him to a five-year contract to begin in 2018. However, on December 4, 2017, the Ravinia Festival ended its ties with Levine and canceled his contract.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra said it would never employ Levine again. The Juilliard School, where Levine studied, replaced him in a February 2018 performance. On December 5, the Cincinnati May Festival canceled Levine’s planned appearance. On December 7, a cinema chain in New Zealand canceled a screening of a Met production featuring Levine conducting.

On December 8, Fred Child, host of a classical music radio show, said Levine was accused of harming members of the musical community and decided not to broadcast his performances.

Greg Sandow, a classical music blogger, said he had been told by three men over the years that Levine had abused them. He noted that rumors about Levine’s behavior had been common in the classical music world for decades. Some anonymous Met employees said rumors about Levine’s actions had been around since at least 1977.

Justin Davidson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic, wrote that Levine’s career had ended and that the Met might not survive the scandal. Terry Teachout, a drama critic, wrote an article titled “The Levine Cataclysm,” saying allegations against Levine could damage the Met. Anne Midgette, a music critic, said the Met had known about the allegations for a year but only investigated after they became public.

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra praised the four men who accused Levine. The American Federation of Musicians, a labor union representing the Met’s orchestra, said it was “horrified and sickened” by the allegations.

Five days after the accusations were made public, Levine called the claims “unfounded.” The accusers said they would take a lie-detector test. Six days later, a music critic wrote that Levine’s denial had little impact.

On March 12, 2018, the Met announced that Levine had been fired. The Met’s investigation found that Levine had “engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers.”

Levine sued the Met in New York State Supreme Court for breaking the contract and defamation, seeking over $5.8 million in damages. The Met denied the allegations. A year later, a judge dismissed most of Levine’s claims but ruled that the Met and its lawyer had made false statements.

In August 2019, the Met and Levine reached a settlement, though the terms were not made public. In September 2020, the amount of the settlement was indirectly revealed.

Recordings

James Levine created many audio and video recordings. He worked with many orchestras and especially performed frequently with the Metropolitan Opera. His performance of Aida with Leontyne Price, her final opera performance, was recorded on video and can be viewed in the Met's online archive. His performances of Wagner's complete Der Ring des Nibelungen are especially well known. A studio recording made for Deutsche Grammophon between 1987 and 1989 is available on compact disc, and a live performance of the Ring from 1989 is on DVD. He also played piano on many albums, working with singers such as Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, Christa Ludwig, and Dawn Upshaw. He performed chamber music by Franz Schubert and Francis Poulenc, among others.

James Levine was in the animated Disney film Fantasia 2000. He conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the film's soundtrack, except for one segment from the original 1940 Fantasia. He also appears in the film speaking briefly with Mickey Mouse, just as his predecessor Leopold Stokowski did in the original film.

• Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (1980), Vienna Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-4128
• Richard Strauss: Elektra (1981), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34111-7
• Mozart: Idomeneo (1982), Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-4234
• Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (1982), Met Opera, 8-1135-70133-0-4
• Verdi: La Traviata (1983), Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-4364
• Verdi: Ernani (1983), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-044007-432280
• The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala (1983), Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-4538
• Bizet: Carmen (1989), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30009-1
• Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (1990), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30439-6 Das Rheingold, Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30369-6 Die Walküre, Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30499-6 Siegfried, Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30379-6 Götterdämmerung, Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30409-6
• Mozart: The Magic Flute (1991), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30039-8
• The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991, Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-4582
• Verdi: Falstaff (1992), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34532-0
• Verdi: Stiffelio (1993), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34288-6
• James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon, B0004602-09
• Verdi: Aida (2000), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30019-0
• Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (2002), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30299-6
• Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (2002), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30319-1
• Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (2002), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34010-3
• Beethoven: Fidelio (2003), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-4407-30529-4
• Puccini: Turandot (2003), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30589-8
• Verdi: Rigoletto (2004), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30939-1
• Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (2004), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30449-5
• Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (2004), Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-0949
• Verdi: Nabucco (2005), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-30779-3
• Verdi: Don Carlo (2005), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34085-1
• Verdi: La forza del destino (2005), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34076-9
• Puccini: La bohème (2005), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34025-7
• Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (2005), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34021-9
• Mozart: Don Giovanni (2005), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34010-3
• Mozart: Idomeneo (2006), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34234-3
• Verdi: Luisa Miller (2006), Deutsche Grammophon, 0044007340271
• Wagner: Tannhäuser (2006), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34171-1
• Wagner: Lohengrin (2006), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34176-6
• Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (2007), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34313-5
• Berlioz: Les Troyens (2007), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34310-4
• Alban Berg: Lulu (2011), Sony Music, 0886979100992
• Mozart: The magic flute, Sony Music, 0886979101395
• Mascagni: Cavallera rusticana (2011), Sony Music, 0886979100893
• Donizetti: Don Pasquale (2011), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34635-8
• Wagner: in Der Ring des Nibelungen (2012), Deutsche Grammophon, 0-44007-34771-3

Honors

According to his Met biography, the following awards have been given to him:

• 1980 – Manhattan Cultural Award
• 1982 – First of eight Grammy Awards
• 1984 – Named "Musician of the Year" by Musical America
• 1986 – Smetana Medal (given by the former Czechoslovakia)
• 1997 – National Medal of Arts
• 1999 – Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize from the Committee for Cultural Advancement of Baden-Baden, Germany
• 2003 – Kennedy Center Honors
• 2005 – Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 2006 – Opera News Award
• 2009 – Award in the Vocal Arts from Bard College
• 2009 – Ditson Conductors Award from Columbia University
• 2010 – National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honoree
• 2010 – George Peabody Award from Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University
• 2010 – Elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Additionally, his biography mentions that Levine has received honorary doctorates from the University of Cincinnati, the New England Conservatory of Music, Northwestern University, the State University of New York, and the Juilliard School. On May 3, 2018, SUNY removed Levine's honorary doctorate in response to sexual abuse allegations against him.