workhorse

MET管弦楽団に病から快復を遂げたジェームズ・レヴァインが戻ってくるそうです。
workhorseのもともとの意味は「労役馬，馬車馬」ですが，そこから転じて「馬車馬のように働く人」の意味が派生しました。（UG）

James Levine to Return to Conducting Metropolitan Opera in 2013

Defying opera world doubters who thought he was too ill, weak or disengaged, James Levine, the longtime and much loved music director of the Metropolitan Opera, plans to return to the podium for the first time in two years, for a May 19 performance by the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and for three productions at the opera house next season.

Mr. Levine, 69, once a workhorse of the baton, has been plagued by health problems since 2006, leading to a drip-drip of cancellations over recent years. A fall in the summer of 2011 that caused severe damage to his spine forced him to bow out of all of last season and cancel involvement this season while he recovered. He hasn’t led a performance since May 14, 2011, when he conducted Wagner’s “Walküre.”

“I’m overwhelmingly happy to be coming back,” Mr. Levine said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It’s miraculous for me.”

www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/arts/music/james-levine-to-return-to-conducting-in-2013.html?emc=na