Levine, James (1943– )

US conductor. He made his opera debut conducting Tosca at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1971. Two years later he became the house's principal conductor and in 1976 its music director. In that position he built the Met orchestra into one of the finest in the world, and he guest-conducted orchestras and opera companies internationally. He was chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra 1999–2004 and musical director of the Boston Symphony from 2004.

Levine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. From a musical family, he studied piano in childhood and soloed with the Cincinnati Symphony at the age of ten. After studies in piano and conducting at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, from 1961, he became assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. He was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002.