Category: people

“Levine, who has gained weight in recent years and displays a hand tremor, fell full onto his shoulder. It could be anything from a bruise to a slight tear or a serious tear that would require surgery. Levine expects to have an M.R.I. scan on Monday if the swelling goes down enough, to determine the extent of the injury. A bruise may mean as little as a week of recovery; surgery could keep him out for several months.”

James Levine has a chair he has toi use when conducting. “I found one that seemed the right size and height and that was comfortable. The stage guys took it and reinforced it and put a new seat cover on it. I wound up using it for 10 years of ‘Parsifal’ and five seasons of the ‘Ring’ Cycle.”

UK Culture Minister Tessa Jowell has separated from her husband after “the ‘painful discovery’ that he did not tell her the full facts about his controversial financial deals.”

James Levine has taken a serious fall. “The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s music director took a tumble at the end of last night’s concert. He was exiting the stage to a standing ovation when he fell. He was able to get back to his feet on his own.”

After falling as he was coming offstage Wednesday, conductor James Levine canceled a Thursday concert appearance. “A consultation with his doctors, and X-rays, have confirmed that there are no broken bones, although there is the understandable soreness and discomfort that typically result from a fall of this type.”

Tony Blair says he stands by his culture minister Tessa Jowell in a scandal over an improper payment. “Critics are expected to seize on a number of peculiarities in her statement, notably how she appeared to be unaware of the injection of £350,000 into the household finances for four years despite having made a subsequent joint mortgage application on the same property 18 months later.”

It’s been a year since Riccardo Muti left La Scala. “The fevered reports that appeared in some European newspapers during the time of troubles, to the effect that Mr. Muti, tyrant that he evidently was, would never find gainful employ again, were always laughable. ‘Immediately, everybody jumped on me, so I have worked more at saying no than saying yes. Actually, when I left La Scala, I received a great demonstration of friendship and admiration throughout the world’.”

Aurore was the granddaughter of Georges Sand. She “was brought up by her grandmother until age 11, when Sand died. After her death, she told me that she decided to completely dedicate her life to her grandmother’s memory. ‘Chopin was an ingrate!’ she told me. ‘My grandmother ran the house solely for him, disrupting all our lives, and yet when he left, there was never any communication from him, not even a letter’.”

“After three and a half years’ research, and the detailed examination of six paintings, the National Portrait Gallery has concluded that the so-called Chandos portrait shows the true face of Shakespeare – probably.”

One of the most successful crusaders for the restoration of stolen and looted art turns out not even to be all that big an art aficionado. But there’s no question in anyone’s mind that Julian Radcliffe and his Art Loss Register have been extremely successful at reuniting art with its rightful owners. To date, the Radcliffe has had a hand in the restoration of more than $100 million worth of art, and the register now catalogs more than 170,000 items worldwide.