by Paul J. Pelkonen
Screen grab from the New York Post today, taken by the author © 2017 The New York Post.
A story in today's New York Post may mean curtains for Metropolitan Opera music director emeritus James Levine.
The article, written by Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, details a 2016 police report filed in Lake Forest, Illinois. In it, an unnamed Illinois victim accused the conductor of multiple sexual assaults dating from a time when Mr. Levine was 41 and his accuser was just 15.
The story in the Post also states that the accuser brought his story to a retired Metropolitan Opera board member who informed general manager Peter Gelb. Mr. Levine, now 74, continues to work at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has conducted since 1971. This afternoon he conducted the final 2017 performance of the Verdi Requiem.
This evening, an article written by Michael Cooper in The New York Times (link here behind paywall) added some more detail to the picture. Mr. Gelb indicated in the Times that the Met is going to begin an in-house investigation into the Levine case.
In the Times article Mr. Gelb said: "We need to determine if these charges are true and, if they are, take appropriate action."
