A biography for James Levinehasn’t been written yet.
“At my age, you are naturally inclined towards teaching.”
“It was just that we had this phenomenal honeymoon relationship that just kept on going.”
“Most people treat the office manual the way they treat a software manual. They never look at it.”
“Art has never been a popularity contest.”
“I have a big problem with conductors who gesture a lot.”
“My hunch is that probably men are doing more both outside the home and inside the home.”
“And so, little by little, I gradually divested myself of pretty nearly all of the guest conducting I used to do, because I was at the same time working in the places like the Met, where I could work in this sort of depth.”
“They've really got to recognize that all of us bring some of our family issues to work and our work home.”
“As major orchestras around the world are gripped in various kinds of crises and upheaval, we need to be sure that we are bringing up this new generation.”
“Where my tastes in music are concerned, I'm a real maximalist.”
“Great cataclysmic things can go by and neither the orchestra nor the conductor are under the delusion that whether they make this or that gesture is going to be the deciding factor in how it comes out.”
“I can imagine wanting to work with this ensemble and this company always.”
“I think this orchestra's strengths involve drama and voice.”
“Employee fathers need to step up to the plate and put their family needs on the table.”
“Women tend to have recognition and peer group support - recognition from friends and family that this has to be a big issue in their lives. They're more comfortable expressing the need for support and receiving it.”
“Second, if you're the boss, just because they don't ask doesn't mean your employees don't have needs.”
“Working mothers do an hour more per day than working fathers do and working mothers do on average an hour more per day with the kids than working fathers do.”
“What's interesting is that both men and women are struggling with this issue in remarkably similar percentages, but the big difference is that women tend to talk about this when men keep it silent.”
“More and more couples are having this negotiation or discussion, but I'm still amazed at the number who aren't and where the cultural norm sort of kicks in and they just assume that mom's got to be the one who stays home, not dad.”
“We're in the midst of an evolution, not a revolution.”