James Levine’s (new) Fall: Met’s Music Director Withdraws from 2011 Performances CORRECTED

New back injury: Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, I said that Levine had been stripped of his principal conductorship. Although he was for many years the Met's de facto principal conductor, Levine did not possess that official title, the Met has informed me. I had assumed (as did others) that since Fabio Luisi had been promoted from "Principal Guest Conductor" to "Principal Conductor," he had succeeded Levine in his new role. That assumption was erroneous.

This highly upsetting news from the Metropolitan Opera about its esteemed music director, James Levine, just hit my inbox:

After a fall last week that damaged one of his vertebrae, James Levine underwent emergency surgery on Thursday in New York, forcing him to withdraw from his performances at the Metropolitan Opera this fall. Levine was scheduled to begin orchestra rehearsals for the new season today. According to his doctors, he was successfully recuperating from another back surgery when the accident happened while he was on vacation in Vermont.

While Levine will continue in his position as Music Director, Fabio Luisi has been named the Met's Principal Conductor, with the new appointment taking effect immediately. In Apr. 2010, Luisi was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Met. He will replace Levine for most of the fall performances, conducting the new productions of "Don Giovanni" (premiering Oct. 13) and "Siegfried" (premiering Oct. 27), as well as the Met Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall on October 16.

"While Jim's latest setback is hugely disappointing for all of us, he joins me in welcoming Fabio's larger role," said Peter Gelb, the Met's General Manager. "I am very pleased that Fabio was able to rearrange his fall schedule, and I appreciate the understanding of those companies with whom he was scheduled to conduct."

In order to replace Levine, Luisi had to cancel performances with the Rome Opera, the Genoa Opera, the Vienna Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony....

[Levine] is scheduled to conduct "Götterdämmerung" from Jan. 27 to Feb. 11, "Das Rheingold" on April 4, and three complete cycles of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" between Apr. 7 and May 12. He is also scheduled to conduct concerts with the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 15 and May 20.

We can only hope that he does, in fact, return in January. I already purchased two hard-to-find tickets to what is now Substitution Siegfried (in October). I've also got tickets for "Götterdämmerung" in January (which I hope Levine may yet be well enough to conduct). As CultureGrrl readers may remember, I last saw him conduct, in evident pain, at last spring's famous soprano-flooring premiere of the seemingly perilous Robert Lepage production of "Die Walküre."

By naming Luisi as principal conductor, the Met appears to be paving to way for a future transfer of the music directorship. I expect that's the likely scenario if Levine can't make it back to the podium in January.

With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, it now appears that New York magazine's Justin Davidson may have been right. James Levine is a national treasure, but our country's premiere opera house can't afford to limp along in limbo much longer.