James Levine

Indefatigable conductor James Levine, music director of both the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has withdrawn from several performances with both institutions due to what the the BSO’s press release called “immediate unanticipated back surgery for a herniated disc.”

At the Met, Levine has withdrawn from his remaining performances of the (widely detested) new production of Puccini’s Tosca, and from three performances of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, on October 13, 16, and 19.

Joseph Colaneri, who has already conducted two performances of Tosca for Levine and was already scheduled for three others, will take over Levine’s other two, on October 6 and 10. The conductor for Rosenkavalier has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, up the road in Boston, Levine has pulled out of three performances, two scheduled for tonight and Saturday in Boston, and one Thursday night to open the BSO’s season at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The conducting duties tonight will be taken by BSO assistant conductor Shi-Yeon Sung; she will split them on Saturday with Julian Kuerti, also an assistant conductor. Thursday’s conductor has not yet been announced.

The Met’s press release says that Levine is expected back in time to conduct a new production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, opening December 3; the BSO doesn’t give a return date.