It’s this week in classical music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

Conductor Jeffrey Kahane will step down as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony at the end of the 2010 season. The decision is rooted in an episode of Hypertension in 2007 that forced the conductor to cancel some appearances; although back in good health now, Kahane says the illness forced him to look at what the priorities were in his life and career as a conductor and piano soloist. “I had a real scare,” he said, “that forced me to really stop and take a look at my life and say, “You know what? You can’t do everything… a lot of this was about the recognition that there are limits.”

Legendary Soprano Dame Joan Sutherland is recovering after breaking both her legs in a fall in the garden of her home in Switzerland. According to her Husband, Richard Bonynge, the 81-year-old Diva is expected to be in hospital for eight weeks. Sutherland had been planning to visit family in Australia with her husband, who was scheduled to conduct Lucia Di Lammermore” with opera Australia; Sutherland insisted that Bonynge go without her—after all, the show must go on.

Boston Symphony orchestra conductor James Levine was scheduled to have surgery to remove a kidney this week. Levin will undergo the procedure because of a cyst that was causing discomfort. The surgery forces Levine to leave the tanglewood concert season early. Doctors estimate recovery time to be about six weeks, in plenty of time for Levine to prepare for and conduct the regular seasons of the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera. In a statement, Levine said, “It is extremely frustrating that I need to have this surgery now," said Levine. "My projects at Tanglewood have been planned so carefully and coordinated in such detail by the Festival administration. I especially regret not being here with Elliott Carter for his 100th birthday celebration, which I was looking forward to more than I can say. And I'm very disappointed at having to miss concerts with my colleagues in the BSO, as well as my work with the young musicians of the Tanglewood Music Center."w

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, kbaq.org; be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me each weekday at noon for The Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I’m Randy Kinkel, for KBAQ’s “This Week in Classical Music”, on listener-supported 89.5 kbaq, Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

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This Week in Classical Music - July 13, 2008 by Randy Kinkel courtesy of KBAQ.

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Title: This Week in Classical Music - July 13, 2008
Author: Randy Kinkel
Publisher: KBAQ 89.5 FM
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