James Levine

Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons will succeed James Levine as music director of the Boston Symphony, the orchestra announced Thursday. The 34-year-old maestro currently heads the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England. Nelsons will start the 2013-14 season with the Boston Symphony with the title "music director designate. " He will assume the full title of music director in the 2014-15 season, according to an orchestra spokeswoman. Levine stepped down as music director of the orchestra in 2011 after seven seasons.

"Prolonged sitting is not what nature intended for us," says Dr. Camelia Davtyan, clinical professor of medicine and director of women's health at the UCLA Comprehensive Health Program. "The chair is out to kill us," says James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Most of us have years of sitting experience, consider ourselves quite good at it and would swear that nature intended us to do it as much as possible. PHOTOS: 17 ways to fight the inertia, step by step But unfortunately, a good deal of data suggest that we're off our rockers to spend so much time on our rockers - as well as the vast variety of other seats where we're fond of parking our duffs.

James Levine has just earned some of the most important rave reviews of his long and distinguished career -- not from music critics, but from doctors on his medical team, who say that the long-ailing conductor has achieved a "remarkable" recuperation from severe back injuries and can resume performing with the Metropolitan Opera next spring. The Met announced Levine's impending return on Thursday, with what may be the first news release by a performing arts group to be dominated by quotes from four physicians.

“Chuck” star Zachary Levi will make his Broadway debut opposite stage and screen alum Krysta Rodriguez in "First Date,” a musical romantic comedy with a book by “Gossip Girl” writer Austin Winsberg. Previews will start July 9 at the Longacre Theatre, with the opening scheduled for Aug. 8. Music and lyrics are by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. Levi, who sang in Disney's “Tangled,” will play an uptight banker on a blind date with an artist and serial-dater (Rodriguez)

Having lost 35 pounds following shoulder surgery, James Levine wants to lose 15 more as he tries to focus on his health with the same energy he devotes to music. Levine, music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, tore his right rotator cuff when he fell leaving the stage at Boston's Symphony Hall on March 1. He returns to the podium on July 7, when he opens the BSO's Tanglewood season conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.

James Levine, artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, has been there for 25 years, and still seems out of place amid the Met's magnificent glamour. He is a small, pudgy man who alternates between two outfits: his evening work clothes (white tie and tails, usually drenched in sweat) and his daytime attire (white polo shirt, shapeless blue polyester pants, desert boots, a towel slung over his left shoulder).

James Levine is effusive. He is effusive because that is the way he naturally is, a trait that makes him a favorite among singers and orchestra players but that can make cynics slightly leery. He is also, on this occasion, effusive because he is talking about the Met Orchestra, which is what the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra now calls itself when it plays concerts, as it will under Levine at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in two different programs tonight and Thursday.

Even the greatest ensembles have their rough patches, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra is no exception. Having endured the long goodbye of Seiji Ozawa, its 15th music director, who departed after 29 years in 2002, the 131-year-old ensemble faces another wrenching transition. The venerable orchestra is making its way forward following the resignation of Ozawa's successor, James Levine, who announced his departure in March after years of poor health and last-minute cancellations. Yet despite such trying times, the BSO's vaunted reputation for musical elegance and subtlety survives intact.

"Prolonged sitting is not what nature intended for us," says Dr. Camelia Davtyan, clinical professor of medicine and director of women's health at the UCLA Comprehensive Health Program. "The chair is out to kill us," says James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Most of us have years of sitting experience, consider ourselves quite good at it and would swear that nature intended us to do it as much as possible. PHOTOS: 17 ways to fight the inertia, step by step But unfortunately, a good deal of data suggest that we're off our rockers to spend so much time on our rockers - as well as the vast variety of other seats where we're fond of parking our duffs.

The brother of conductor James Levine says the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera music director has had surgery in New York to remove a kidney. Tom Levine said in a statement released by the Boston Symphony Orchestra that his 65-year-old brother's surgery Tuesday "went exactly as planned and expected, and has been described by the doctors involved as completely successful." James Levine will remain in the hospital for several days. He is expected to perform next on Sept.

Following an absence of more than two years to recover from injuries and illnesses, James Levine made his big return to the podium Sunday to conduct the Metropolitan Opera orchestra at Carnegie Hall. But the 69-year-old Levine didn't entirely return to form, having to lead the concert from the confines of a wheelchair. Though questions remain about Levine's long-term ability to conduct, "this was a day to celebrate his return and bask in his musical glory," wrote New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini.

Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons will succeed James Levine as music director of the Boston Symphony, the orchestra announced Thursday. The 34-year-old maestro currently heads the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England. Nelsons will start the 2013-14 season with the Boston Symphony with the title "music director designate. " He will assume the full title of music director in the 2014-15 season, according to an orchestra spokeswoman. Levine stepped down as music director of the orchestra in 2011 after seven seasons.

James Levine has just earned some of the most important rave reviews of his long and distinguished career -- not from music critics, but from doctors on his medical team, who say that the long-ailing conductor has achieved a "remarkable" recuperation from severe back injuries and can resume performing with the Metropolitan Opera next spring. The Met announced Levine's impending return on Thursday, with what may be the first news release by a performing arts group to be dominated by quotes from four physicians.

Even the greatest ensembles have their rough patches, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra is no exception. Having endured the long goodbye of Seiji Ozawa, its 15th music director, who departed after 29 years in 2002, the 131-year-old ensemble faces another wrenching transition. The venerable orchestra is making its way forward following the resignation of Ozawa's successor, James Levine, who announced his departure in March after years of poor health and last-minute cancellations. Yet despite such trying times, the BSO's vaunted reputation for musical elegance and subtlety survives intact.

Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs leaped to the top of bestseller lists in its first week in book stores, flying off shelves to the tune of 379,000 copies, according to Nielsen's BookScan. "Steve Jobs," which came out on Oct. 24 from publisher Simon & Schuster, sold three times more copies than the next-bestselling book, John Grisham's "The Litigators. " In its first week alone the book became one of the year's 20 bestsellers. It has been a year since any book has sold more copies in its first week.

Just weeks after Fox dropped "America's Most Wanted" after more than two decades, its creator-host, John Walsh, has a new home for the show on the Lifetime network. The deal, announced jointly on Tuesday by Walsh and Lifetime, will return to the air Walsh's weekly criminal roundup, which since 1988 has helped bring almost 1,200 fugitives to justice. The series will return for its 25th season later this year. In May, Fox announced it was axing "AMW," citing high production costs.

Conductor James Levine has returned to New York and is having additional tests on his injured shoulder. Levine, music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was hurt March 1 when he tripped on the stage at Boston's Symphony Hall during ovations after a performance. Although he did not break any bones, Levine, 62, may have rotator cuff damage. He canceled his next two performances with the orchestra and a U.S. tour that began Monday.

James Levine, the ailing music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is having back surgery this week and has announced that he is withdrawing from conducting engagements this fall. The Metropolitan Opera said that Levine will miss all of his scheduled conducting appearances with the company through the beginning of December. "Levine's doctors expect him to recover in time to conduct the new production of 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann,' which opens Dec. 3," said a Met spokeswoman by e-mail.

James Levine, the ailing music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is having back surgery this week and has announced that he is withdrawing from conducting engagements this fall. The Metropolitan Opera said that Levine will miss all of his scheduled conducting appearances with the company through the beginning of December. "Levine's doctors expect him to recover in time to conduct the new production of 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann,' which opens Dec. 3," said a Met spokeswoman by e-mail.

A growth on a kidney removed from conductor James Levine was malignant, but doctors say the cancer was caught early and no further treatment is needed, the Boston Symphony Orchestra said Tuesday. Doctors in New York removed the right kidney last week because the growth was causing pressure and discomfort for Levine, 65, music director of the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera. The surgery forced him to miss the remainder of the BSO's Tanglewood season. Levine's brother, Tom Levine, said in a statement that his brother was relieved by the doctors' report, in good spirits recuperating at home and looking forward to conducting the opening events of the 2008-09 seasons of the BSO and the Met in September.