"In a horrified silence he stood up, and to renewed applause, danced a little jig," Richard Dyer wrote. "He returned to the stage a final time, ostentatiously dusting off his tails to demonstrate that he was OK."

The BSO managing director Mark Volpe said that Levine has visited a doctor, who confirmed through x-rays that the conductor had not suffered any broken bones. However, according to a statement, "there is the understandable soreness and discomfort that typically result from a fall of this type."

"Mr. Levine very much hopes to return to the BSO podium during the course of this weekend," the statement read.

Jens Georg Bachmann, the BSO's assistant conductor, will step in for tonight's concert, which includes Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

The 62-year-old Levine, who is also the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, has conducted from a seated position for several years, and he told the New York Times in 2004 that he took medication for a neurological condition that caused tremors in his arms and legs.