James Levine: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:55, 31 January 2007

Revision as of 05:27, 10 March 2007

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Levine subsequently studied music with [[Walter Levin]], first violinist in the [[La Salle Quartet]]. In 1956 he took piano lessons with [[Rudolf Serkin]] at the Marlboro (Vermont) School of Music. In 1957 he began piano studies with [[Rosina Lhévinne]] at the [[Aspen Music Festival and School|Aspen Music School]]. In 1961 he entered the [[Juilliard School of Music]] in [[New York City]], and took courses in conducting with [[Jean Morel]]. In 1964 he graduated from the Juilliard School and joined the American Conductors project connected with the [[Baltimore Symphony Orchestra]].

From 1964 to 1965, Levine served as an apprentice to [[George Szell]] with the [[Cleveland Orchestra]] and then served as assistant conductor until 1970. That year, he also made his debut appearance as guest conductor with the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] at its summer home at Robin Hood Dell. In 1970, he made his debut with the [[Welsh National Opera]] and the [[San Francisco Opera]]. He made his [[Metropolitan Opera]] debut in June 1971 in a festival performance of ''[[Tosca]]''; his success led to further appearances and to his appointment as its principal conductor in 1973; he then was its music director from 1975 until becoming its artistic director (the first in its history) in 1986. Levine had a long association with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] and served from 1973 to 1993 as [[music director]] of the Ravinia Festival. In 1990, at the request of [[Roy E. Disney]], he arranged the music and conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the soundtrack of [[Fantasia 2000]] released by [[Walt Disney Pictures]]. He also served as Music Director with the [[Cincinnati May Festival]] (1974-1978).

===MusicMetropolitan directorOpera of METcareer===

Levine made his [[Metropolitan Opera]] debut in June 1971 in a festival performance of ''[[Tosca]]''. His success led to further appearances and to his appointment as its principal conductor in 1973. He then became Music Director in 1976<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,,398525,00.html Martin Kettle, "Staying power". ''The Guardian'', 17 November 2000]</ref>, and later Artistic Director (the first in its history) in 1986.

Under his leadership, the [[Metropolitan Opera]] orchestra and chorus became one of the finest operatic ensembles in the world, and Levine started a regular concert series for the orchestra (and chamber ensembles thereof) at [[Carnegie Hall]]. On his recent appointment as General manager of the Met, [[Peter Gelb]] emphasised that, even after 35 years as music director, something exceptional in the major opera houses of the world, James Levine would be most welcome to remain as long as he wanted to direct music there. His present contract runs through the 2010/2011 season.

Under his leadership, the [[Metropolitan Opera]] orchestra and chorus became one of the finest operatic ensembles in the world, and Levine started a regular concert series for the orchestra (and chamber ensembles thereof) at [[Carnegie Hall]]. On his recent appointment as General manager of the Met, [[Peter Gelb]] emphasised that, even after 35 years as music director, something exceptional in the major opera houses of the world, James Levine would be most welcome to remain as long as he wanted to direct music there. His present contract runs through the 2010/2011 season.

At the Met, Levine has led numerous new productions of works of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Richard Strauss|Strauss]], [[Gioacchino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], [[Kurt Weill]], [[Claude Debussy]], [[Alban Berg]], and [[George Gershwin]]. For the 25th anniversary of his Met debut, Levine conducted the world premiere of [[John Harbison]]'s ''The Great Gatsby'', commissioned especially to mark the occasion.

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===Boston Symphony Orchestra===

In October 2004, Levine took the helm of the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] (BSO), succeeding [[Seiji Ozawa]] as music director, and becoming the first American to head the venerable orchestraBSO. He now splits his time between [[New York]] and [[Boston]]. Thus, for the first time in living memory, the same man was in charge of the country's leading opera house and a top orchestra. (In Europe, Herbert von Karajan had performed a similar feat in the 1950s as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and director of the Vienna Staatsoper.)

His [[Boston Symphony]] contract limits his guest appearances with American orchestras but Levine conducts regularly in Europe, with the [[Munich Philharmonic Orchestra]], [[Vienna Philharmonic]], [[Berlin Philharmonic]], and at the [[Bayreuth Festival]]. Levine is also a regular guest with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]] of London and the [[Dresden Staatskapelle]]. Since 1975, he has also conducted regularly at the [[Salzburg Festival]] and the annual July [[Verbier Festival]], of which he is also music director.

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{{start box}}

{{succession box | title=[[Metropolitan Opera|Music Director, Metropolitan Opera]] | before=[[Rafael Kubelík]] | years=1976-present | after=incumbent

}}

{{succession box | title=[[Munich Philharmonic Orchestra|Chief Conductor,

Munich Philharmonic Orchestra]] | before=[[Sergiu Celibidache]] | years=1999-2004 | after=[[Christian Thielemann]]