James Levine, who ruled over Met Opera, dead at age 77 RONALD BLUM, Associated Press FacebookTwitterEmail 8 1of8FILE - Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine conducts the symphony on its opening night performance at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. on July 7, 2006. Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for 4 1/2 decades before being eased out when his health declined and then fired for sexual improprieties, died March 9, 2021 in Palm Springs, Calif., of natural causes, his physician of 17 years, Dr. Len Horovitz, said Wednesday, March 17. He was 77.Michael Dwyer/APShow MoreShow Less 2of8FILE - James Levine conducts the Metropolitan Orchestra of New York during a rehearsal for a performance at Vienna's famed Musikverein on May 11 1996. Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for 4 1/2 decades before being eased out when his health declined and then fired for sexual improprieties, died March 9, 2021 in Palm Springs, Calif., of natural causes, his physician of 17 years, Dr. Len Horovitz, said Wednesday, March 17. He was 77. (AP photo/Ronald Zak, File)Ronald Zak/APShow MoreShow Less