Cincinnati native and famed conductor James Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and then was fired for sexual improprieties, has died. He was 77.
He died March 9 in Palm Springs, California, of natural causes, his physician of 17 years, Dr. Len Horovitz, said Wednesday.
Levine was the music director of Cincinnati s May Festival, the oldest choral music festival in North America from 1974 to 1978. He served as guest conductor in 1973 and was guest pianist in 1978. He returned as a guest conductor at the May Festival in 1980 and 2005.
The maestro, once described by Newsweek magazine as America s greatest conductor, came from a musical family, studying the violin and piano as a child.