James Levine summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see James Levine.

James Levine, (born June 23, 1943, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died March 9, 2021, Palm Springs, California), U.S. conductor. He debuted as a pianist at age 10 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. At Juilliard he studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne (1880–1976) and conducting with Jean Morel (1903–75). He was assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1964 to 1970. A guest appearance conducting Tosca (1971) led to his appointment as principal conductor (1973) and later music director (1975) and artistic director (1986) of the Metropolitan Opera. He built the flagging Met orchestra into a virtuoso ensemble and became recognized as one of the world’s greatest conductors. During this time, he also served as director of the Ravinia Festival, outside Chicago (1973–93), and as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (2004–11). In 2018 Levine was fired from the Met after an investigation found credible evidence to support allegations of sexual abuse and harassment.

Grammy Award Summary

Grammy Award, any of a series of awards presented annually in the United States by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS; commonly called the Recording Academy) or the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS; commonly called the Latin Recording Academy) to recognize

piano Summary

Piano, a keyboard musical instrument having wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard. The standard modern piano contains 88 keys and has a compass of seven full octaves plus a few keys. The vibration of the strings is transmitted to a soundboard by means

music Summary

Music, art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm, melody, and, in most Western music, harmony. Both the simple folk song and the complex electronic composition belong to the same activity,

opera Summary

Opera, a staged drama set to music in its entirety, made up of vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment and usually with orchestral overtures and interludes. In some operas the music is continuous throughout an act; in others it is broken up into discrete pieces, or “numbers,” separated either