Conductor James Levine will miss the final concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's season, through March 19, due to a back injury, the symphony said on Tuesday.
"Maestro Levine is forced to cancel appearances due to ill effects from a recent procedure addressing his ongoing back issues, further complicated by a viral infection," the BSO said in a statement.
Information on a replacement for Levine is expected to be issued on Wednesday.
The Boston Symphony, one of the leading orchestras in the United States, was scheduled to make an East Coast swing this month, including three concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall and a concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Levine, 67, is in his seventh season as music director of the BSO and has a similar role at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
He has had a series of health problems in recent years, including a fall onstage in Boston in 2006 which tore the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
Levine had back surgery in 2009 and 2010 and missed the orchestra's summer 2010 season at the Tanglewood Music Festival in western Massachusetts.