James Levine, suffering from debilitating back problems, will step down from his post as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra on September 1. He will continue serving as music director of the Metropolitan Opera.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra said on Tuesday that James Levine, its music director, will miss the remainder of the orchestra's season as a result of the back problems that have plagued him for months.

Striking musicians with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra say they'll return to work without a contract. Cellist and spokesman Haden McKay says the issues will be worked out through binding arbitration, after a contentious, nearly five-month strike.

In the latest twist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strike, the full percussion section has announced their departure. The news comes in the wake of the cancellation of the remainder of the orchestra's season.

Classical music soothes the savage breast -- at least that's the hope of law enforcement officials in Portland, OR. A new bill now in committee seeks to install classical music speakers in some of the city's most troubled transportation hubs.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's synth-heavy, non-orchestral soundtrack for "The Social Network" was awarded Best Original Score at the 83rd annual Academy Awards. The duo also won the Golden Globe this year for their work on the film.

Figaro's aria "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Barber of Seville appeared in numerous cartoons during the 1930s and 40s. It shows up no fewer than nine times in Warner Bros. cartoons, for instance. Here are several examples.

The 23-year-old Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti performs live in the WQXR Cafe, and explains why mental toughness is the key to mastering the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

Soprano Renata Scotto sang more than 300 performances in 26 roles with the Metropolitan Opera, and defined bel canto singing on stages from La Scala to Covent Garden. Today at 12 pm the veteran diva shares her favorite recordings.

Pro-Palestinian protesters clogged the sidewalks surrounding Carnegie Hall Tuesday night as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performed its third concert on a current eight-concert tour of the United States.

Charles Gerhardt’s Classic Film Score series helped re-introduce movie lovers to orchestral scores in the 1970s. Using the original orchestrations, heard in rich stereo sound, Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra recreated legendary scores of Hollywood’s most memorable films. Re-mastered for the first time using the original analog masters and including the original LP liner notes, 13 albums of Classic Film Scores will be available in March from Sony Music.

“The King’s Speech,” which won four Oscars on Sunday, punctuates a pivotal scene with a famous classical work – Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Yet its very prominence has fueled a growing online debate about the intent of the film's creators.

With the Detroit Symphony musicians's rejection of its management's latest contract offer on Saturday, the beleaguered company has ground to a near complete halt. Yet it's just the latest example of contentious, grinding negotiations in the orchestra world.

The Detroit Symphony has suspended the remainder of its performance season after striking musicians rejected the latest contract offer on Saturday. No further meetings with management have been scheduled.

One of the major operatic events of the international calendar opens this week in London: Anna Nicole, the opera by composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Richard Thomas. Would you see it if it came to New York?

The Metropolitan Opera announced its 2011-12 season on Wednesday. Amid plans for the second two installments of Robert Lepage's Ring cycle and a World War II-era Faust, the big news to emerge was from the podium.

Young Concert Artists has been such a fixture on the classical music landscape for so long, it’s easy to lose track of its milestones: creating the debut recitals and tours for pianists like Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the Tokyo String Quartet and Dawn Upshaw.

Frédéric Chopin suffered from a variety of health problems, but one may have been overlooked until now: Temporal-lobe epilepsy. Recently published research offers a new development in the ongoing quest to diagnose the Polish composer.

Days after undergoing emergency surgery, Riccardo Muti has won Grammy Awards in the Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance categories for his recording of the Verdi Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.