The Blue Danube waltz is one of Strauss's most graceful and soaring creations. Its appearances in cartoons include a Looney Tunes short A Corny Concerto and an early episode of Spongebob Squarepants.

The Metropolitan Opera said Monday that music director James Levine will reduce his conducting dates for the rest of the season while he continues to deal with pain in his back. What do you think should happen next?

Elizabeth Taylor, the two-time Oscar winner who was as world famous for her private life as for her acting, died Wednesday in Los Angeles, her four children by her side. The cause was congestive heart failure, her publicist, Sally Morrison, told The Associated Press.

New York stands to lose a large swath of one of its most celebrated music manuscript holdings, as the Morgan Library and Museum faces the potential sale of the Robert Owen Lehman Collection.

In yet another indication of James Levine's troubled health, the Metropolitan Opera music director today announced his reduced schedule for the remainder of the season.

In Venezuela, a national program called El Sistema provides music education for some 300,000 at-risk youth. Increasingly, like-minded programs are sprouting up across the United States, with one project taking root in New York City.

The music of Edvard Grieg is frequently used in pop culture, as seen in the prominent use of his In The Hall of the Mountain King in the Oscar-winning film, "The Social Network." Another piece that is a favorite of animators is Morning Mood, also from his Peer Gynt Suite.

Japan has no George Clooney or Angelina Jolie and the country is known more for its affluence than neediness. It does, however, have a longstanding cultural link to the West, through classical music. Several benefit concerts are in the works in New York.

Plenty of fine guitarists have made their mark on classical music but, let's face it, the instrument hasn't been wholeheartedly embraced by today's younger generation. Miloš Karadaglić, 28, is determined to change that.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has 5,085 musical instruments in its collection. The fact that they are rarely played illustrates an ongoing debate about the purpose of musical instruments in museums and the value of performance.

Faced with aftershocks, transportation gridlock and canceled rehearsals following the massive earthquake and tsunami, members of Bach Collegium Japan boarded a flight to the U.S. on Sunday.

Franz von Suppé was a staple of Vienna's opera scene in the 19th century, having written dozens of light operas and operettas. Part of his popularity in modern times may be due in part to cartoons.

Members of the BBC Philharmonic, caught up in the Japanese earthquake, have described it as "scary stuff." Ninety members of the orchestra were in their tour bus traveling when the earthquake struck. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and conductor Daniel Harding are also safe in the aftermath.

Just when you thought opera in movie theaters couldn't get any bigger, along comes opera in 3-D. Two of London’s opera houses recently jumped on the trend with 3-D movie theater broadcasts. Will this influence the future of opera?

The online music service Spotify, which boasts a considerable classical music catalog, has surpassed its one-million subscriber mark. Considered a European answer to iTunes, it has been trying to enter the American market.

After 37 years on the road, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s has a permanent home base in which it can rehearse, record and manage its administrative affairs, with the opening of the DiMenna Center for Classical Music on Manhattan’s West Side.

In the latest effort to bring a populist touch to opera, London's Royal Opera House has teamed up with a developer of 3D movie technology to offer a new 3D film version of Carmen. It's screening in several New York area theaters this week.

The New York Philharmonic has been digitizing its vast archives, and recently unveiled its first installment online. It includes some telling glimpses into the orchestra's rough-and-tumble history. Check out these eight surprise entries.

The musicians of the New York Philharmonic will wear blue wristbands during performances this weekend to show their support for their striking colleagues in Detroit, according to The American Federation of Musicians.