James Levine needs back surgery

James Levine, the renowned conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra, needs surgery for a herniated disk in his back.

Levine will withdraw from performing until December, according to his manager Ronald Wilford.

Levine, 67, has missed two recent performances of Tosca at the Met, though he did conduct the Boston Symphony in the past week. The surgery will be performed immediately.

Levine has had health problems twice in the last few years that forced him to miss performances. In 2006, he tore a rotator cuff when he tripped on stage and in 2008 his kidney was removed because of a tumour.

The BSO has said it will find replacements for Levine throughout the fall, among them Julian Kuerti, the Canadian-born musician who joined the BSO as assistant conductor in 2007.

Joseph Colaneri will take over Levine's autumn performances of the Met's much-criticized new staging of Tosca.

The Met said Levine should return to the podium by Dec. 3, when he is scheduled to conduct a new production of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann).