According to today’s NY Times, James Levine, the famous conductor and music director of the Metropolitan Opera, has Parkinson’s disease (and a slew of other health issues), but he’ll continue to conduct orchestras thanks to an adjustment in his meds.
For years he’s been conducting while sitting in a wheelchair, and he – and others – thought his conducting days were about over, as he wasn’t able to control his arm sufficiently anymore.
But then the doctor tweaked his drug regimen. To wit:
Mr. Levine said that he had feared his Parkinson’s was worsening. “I was surprised, and I was worried,” he said, noting that for a while he played “telephone tag” with his doctor and did not schedule an appointment for some time. “I didn’t want to be doing substandard performances and stay working too long, but I felt so good about the way I was able to work — other than this gestural thing.”
Dr. Fahn, an expert on Parkinson’s, said in an interview with Mr. Levine present that Mr. Levine had Parkinson’s disease, but that it did not seem to be progressing and that his involuntary movements, or dyskinesia, seemed to result from too high a dose of the medication L-dopa. “If you lower the dose, and keep him smooth at a lower dose, he should be able to do pretty well,” Dr. Fahn said, adding that he had reduced Mr. Levine’s medication on Thursday and was already seeing strong improvement.
It’s great to hear people with PD are still working in their 70s.
Uh, double entendre on the title?