Sarah Caldwell Has Pneumonia

BOSTON — Sarah Caldwell, artistic director of the Opera Company of Boston, was in serious condition today in the intensive care unit of Massachusetts General Hospital suffering from double pneumonia.

Caldwell, 60, the first woman ever to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera, was first hospitalized Jan. 3 with what was then thought to be the flu. Doctors changed the diagnosis to pneumonia in one lung, opera company spokesman Clifford Brooks said. She recovered slightly for a time, he said, and then suffered a relapse that escalated to double pneumonia.