Conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, who led the Philadelphia Orchestra for much of the 1990s and is known in Europe as one of the finest operatic conductors of his generation, is reported to have officially retired from the podium. “The 82-year-old Sawallisch has canceled a series of appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other groups this season because of an unspecified illness… He has suffered from orthostatic hypotension, a blood pressure problem, in the past.”