Music Director Emeritus James Levine Conducts Mozart and Verdi in 2017-2018

Summary: Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts Mozart and Verdi, including Verdi’s Requiem, in the 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season.

Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season: Helena Dix @HelenaDix via Twitter Feb. 11, 2017

Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts Mozart and Verdi, including Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, for his return to the conductor’s podium for four productions in the 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season.

James Levine’s first return to the conductor’s podium for the 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season takes place Sept. 27 for opening night of Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). The Met’s Music Director Emeritus is scheduled to conduct all five performances of the full-length, German-language production of Mozart’s musical fairy tale. The production’s last performance takes place Oct. 14.

The Met’s Music Director Emeritus reclaims the conductor’s baton one and one-third months later for Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). The Met’s production of four concerts opens Nov. 24 and closes Dec. 2.

A quartet of soloists appears with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus for the production’s four concerts. Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova and Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk join Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko and Italian bass Ferruccio Ferlanetto.

James Levine last conducted Verdi’s Requiem Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. The concert was performed in memory of Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti (Oct. 12, 1935-Sept. 6, 2007).

The Met’s Music Director Emeritus revisits the conductor’s podium Jan. 22, 2018, for the 2017-2018 season’s production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore. He conducts all eight performances. The production closes Feb. 15.

James Levine’s fourth and last appearance as conductor for the 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season takes place March 29, 2018. He conducts all seven performances of Verdi's Luisa Miller. Luisa Miller closes with the production’s April 21 performance.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who bears the current title of Music Director Designate, officially succeeds James Levine as the Metropolitan Opera’s music director in 2020. For the 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts two productions.

His first appearance for the 2017-2018 season opens Parsifal by Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883). He conducts six of the production’s seven performances: Feb. 5, Feb. 10, Feb. 13, Feb. 17, Feb. 20, and Feb. 27’s closing. American conductor John Keenan holds the baton for the Feb. 23 performance.

The Met’s Music Director Designate returns to the podium in the spring to open the 2017-2018 season’s production of Elektra by Richard Georg Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949). He conducts five of the one-act tragic opera’s six performances: March 1, March 5, March 9, March 12 and March 17. American conductor Paul Nadler holds the baton March 23 for Elektra’s closing performance.

Maestro Levine retired as music director at the end of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2015-2016 season. He returned in the capacity of Music Director Emeritus for the following season. For the Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season, James Levine conducted three productions.

His first appearance on the conductor’s podium for the 2016-2017 season took place for the opening of L’Italiana in Algeri by Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868). Rossini’s two-act dramma giocoso ("playful drama") opened Oct. 4 and closed Oct. 26.

James Levine’s second appearance on the conductor’s podium opened the 2016-2017 season’s production of Verdi’s Nabucco. Verdi’s four-act biblically-themed opera with a fictional love triangle opened Dec. 12, 2016, and closed Jan. 7, 2017.

The third opera conducted by James Levine during the 2016-2017 season was Mozart’s Idomeneo. The three-act, Greek mythology-themed opera opened March 17, 2017, and closed March 25.

The takeaway for Music Director Emeritus James Levine’s conducting Mozart and Verdi in the 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season is that the maestro's return attests to the enduring appeal of opera because, in the maestro’s words, “These voices, this music, it makes it all worth it.”

In the Met Opera 2017-2018 season, Music Director Emeritus James Levine revisits Verdi's Requiem, which he last conducted in 2008 as a memorial to Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Facebook March 25, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season: Helena Dix @HelenaDix via Twitter Feb. 11, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/HelenaDix/status/830409935884316672

In the Met Opera 2017-2018 season, Music Director Emeritus James Levine revisits Verdi's Requiem, which he last conducted in 2008 as a memorial to Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Facebook Feb. 15, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10158357868585533.1073741928.20807115532/10158357950180533/

For further information:

“Capping an Historic Tenure, James Levine to Retire as Metropolitan Opera Music Director at the End of the Current Season.” Opera News Magazine > News. April 14, 2016.
Available @ https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/4/News/James_Levine_to_Retire_as_Met_Music_Director.html

Helena Dix @HelenaDix. “Inspirational Idomeneo rehearsal yesterday at The Met with the divine James Levine.” Twitter. Feb. 11, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/HelenaDix/status/830409935884316672

Marriner, Derdriu. “Idomeneo Is March 25, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, March 20, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/idomeneo-is-march-25-2017-metropolitan.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “L’Italiana in Algeri Is the Dec. 31, 2016, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Dec. 26, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/12/litaliana-in-algeri-is-dec-31-2016.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Nabucco Is the Jan. 7, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 2, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/nabucco-is-jan-7-2017-metropolitan.html

Metropolitan Opera. “James Levine, Plácido Domingo, and Peter Gelb in Conversation.” YouTube. Jan. 9, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmnagKbhXGY&spfreload=10

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Maestro James Levine will step down as Music Director at the end of the season.” Twitter. April 14, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/720748106116153344

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "#MetHD! Where in the world will you be watching today's live broadcast of Idomeneo? Matthew Polenzani, Nadine Sierra, Alice Coote and Elza van den Heever star in Mozart’s early masterpiece conducted by Music Director Emeritus James Levine. Find a cinema near you here: bit.ly/2jGFRhB Photo by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera." Facebook. March 25, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10158536302380533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Verdi Requiem November 24 – December 2." Facebook. Feb. 15, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10158357868585533.1073741928.20807115532/10158357950180533/

Philly Inquirer @PhillyInquirer. “Famed Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine is retiring. Could Philadelphia’s Yannick Nézet-Séguin replace him?” Twitter. April 15, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/PhillyInquirer/status/720982530330009601

Vancouver Opera @VancouverOpera. “James Levine to become emeritus music director at @MetOpera -- in case you hadn’t heard.” Twitter. April 15, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/VancouverOpera/status/721043579251113984

“Verdi Requiem Mass [49].” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Sept. 18, 2008.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352562