Good morning. For those of you who know me on this list, you are aware that I rarely submit anything unless I think it might be of some real interest to its members. Well, this is one of those times as I feel it is important to put into perspective what happened with Maestro Levine and the Das Rheingold performance last night at the Met and to put an end to any rumors that may surface before they start.

Maestro Levine had not been feeling well the past few days with some sort of a stomach virus. Nothing more, nothing less. He had spoken with Maestro Keenan, who is the cover conductor for both Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, earlier in the week during Götterdämmerung rehearsals to tell him that his stomach was bothering him and to be ready to go on Thursday evening just in case.

However, Maestro Levine spent the day resting up in the hopes of conducting last night, skipping the Guild Luncheon, as was noted in another message here on Opera-l. Maestro Levine was in his dressing room, dressed and ready to go when the stomach virus intensified and he realized that he would be unable to conduct the performance. This was at 7:45. Maestro Keenan was immediately called upon to get into his tux and was sent into the pit at just around 8:05 to adjust the conductor stool and music stand.

At approximately 8:12 Thomas Connell, the stage manager of last evenings performance, came before the curtain to announce that Maestro Keenan would go on to conduct the performance in place of Maestro Levine who has suddenly taken ill. It all happened so quickly that Maestro Keenan didn't even have time to say hello to the cast before the performance started though he had worked with all of the artists during the preparation of these performances. The performance then began at 8:14 with Maestro Keenan his first-ever Das Rheingold to great acclaim.

Hopefully this will answer any questions that one might have regarding the events of last night's performance at the Met and stop the rumor mill before it gets started. Have a pleasant day.

Mike

**********************************************
OPERA-L official website:  http://www.OPERA-L.org
OPERA-L on Facebook:
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25703098721&REF=mf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message to [log in to unmask]
containing only the words:  SIGNOFF OPERA-L
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To stay subscribed but TURN OFF mail, send a message to
[log in to unmask] containing only the words:  SET OPERA-L NOMAIL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modify your settings: http://listserv.bccls.org/archives/opera-l.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------