The American conductor and pianist James Levine (born 1943) was an outstanding musical director who developed and maintained the Metropolitan Opera as one of the world's finest companies.

James Levine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a musical family. A prodigy, he made his debut as a pianist performing Mendelssohn's Second Piano Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra when he was ten years old. At the age of 13 he studied piano with Rudolf Serkin at the Marlboro Music Festival. The festival needed someone to conduct the offstage chorus for a production of Mozart's opera Così fan tutte. Levine took the position and enjoyed it so much that he began to think of a career as a conductor.

He also spent summers in his childhood at the Aspen Music School and Festival where he studied with Walter Levin, violinist with the La Salle Quartet. He continued to study privately...