Breaking News! Met Opera Director James Levine to Retire at the End of the Season Due to Declining Health

James Levine will retire as the Metropolitan Opera's music director at the end of the season due to his declining health from Parkinson's disease.

In a statement on Thursday, Met general manager Peter Gelb said that Levine will become music director emeritus and a successor will be appointed "in the coming months." Gelb also said, "There is no conductor in the history of opera who has accomplished what Jim has achieved in his epic career at the Met.

James Levine has conducted 25 Met performances of Un Ballo in Maschera between 1990 and 1997. This season, Levine also led the season-opening new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and Verdi's Ernani. Also this spring, he leads a rare revival of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress as well as the final MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall concert of the season, on May 17. Over the course of his 44-year career at the Met, he has led more than 2,450 performances.