Brilliant animation and slapstick humor certainly define the Looney Tunes, but it is impossible to imagine the images on screen without classical music. Emmy-winning conductor George Daugherty shares the inspiration behind the live program “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony,” now celebrating its 30th anniversary.

“Joker” composer Hildur Guðnadóttir made history by becoming the first woman in 19 years to win best original score at the Golden Globes. Guðnadóttir was the sole female nominee.

The 2010s were a tumultuous decade, replete with astounding artistic highlights, superlative new voices, and watershed moments of reckoning. WFMT hosts and staff reflect on what the past decade brought for classical music, and what the new decade may have in store.

2019 was a year of great loss in the worlds of classical music and the arts. WFMT commemorates and celebrates the lives of these artists as they speak directly to us.

This is no laughing matter: “Joker” composer Hildur Guðnadóttir could be the first woman in 19 years to win the Golden Globe for best original score.

For many of us, just hearing the lyrics “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” is enough to transport us back to our childhoods.

Audiences will be irate this weekend at the Siskel Center. No, not the people in the theater, but the onscreen audiences portrayed in In the Mouth of the Wolf. The made-for-TV documentary depicts the infamously fanatical opera culture of Parma, Italy through the lens of a troubled production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Imagine the scrolling main title of Star Wars or wizards taking flight in Harry Potter without triumphant brass and sweeping strings. These cinematic moments would lose their emotional resonance without the iconic music of John Williams.

Whether you’re looking for a hardcore horror flick or a family-friendly outing, this list has you covered for some of the Chicago area’s Halloween highlights!

Lunn: “With Downton, the music is also carefully choreographed under the dialogue. I need to see exactly where and what it’s going to be so I can get it right.”

“Writing music, I believe, is a spiritual practice,” says composer Michael Abels. “Any three notes you can find are either terrible or brilliant depending on the context.” Abels makes his Sinfonietta conducting debut leading the orchestra in a live-to-picture performance of his own score for Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning film Get Out.

Video games don’t always conjure up images of a concert hall. Surveys show that 90% percent of teens play video games on a computer, game console, or phone. The numbers aren’t quite as high when you ask teens if they like classical music — a separate survey shows that classical music is the preferred genre of just about 4% of …

San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas is among the awardees. Asked why he felt he was chosen for the award, Tilson Thomas laughed and said, “I guess I’ve just been around a long time!”…

“I was thirteen years old and on a definite budget: I took some of my paltry allowance and spent the princely sum of $1 on a record.”

Summer is upon us! Whatever your plans, we have the perfect musical accompaniment: summery classical music selected by WFMT hosts and staff!

“My hope is the film goes a step toward that agenda of his which was to democratize the art form and broaden the audience reach.”

One of film’s first superstars, Charlie Chaplin was an innovator in virtually every aspect of filmmaking. With his iconic character the Tramp, he created an ‘everyman’ who remains loved by audiences around the world to this day. Chaplin also wrote and directed most of his movies, and, even though he wasn’t always credited, he composed nearly all of the music as well.

Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand,” the continued celebration of the music and influence of Leonard Bernstein, and four films accompanied by live orchestra await festivalgoers this summer at Ravinia, which released its 2019 summer schedule this morning.

The French pianist was known for his jazz interpretations of classical music, most famously, the works of Bach in his Play Bach record series.

Previn was a child prodigy whose family fled Nazi Germany. As a teenager, he found work as a composer and arranger in Hollywood, mostly at MGM, winning four Oscars for his orchestrations of such stylish musicals as 1964’s “My Fair Lady.”

Despite shifting tides, especially since the rise of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements in 2017, women are often left out of the spotlight when it comes to leadership roles in film and music production.

The eighty-fifth annual season opens June 12 and will run through August 17, with most performances taking place at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

In over 50 years of work, he’s also racked up six Academy Award nominations — five for original score and one for original song — but has gone home empty-handed every time.

Sydney Pollack shot most of the footage that documented Franklin’s performance at a Los Angeles Baptist church in January 1972.

Clarissa Bevilacqua, a 15-year-old violinist living in Italy, describes the double-edged sword of being dubbed a “prodigy.” She is one of the three young classical musicians who come together to perform as a trio in Hear Us, an hourlong program that first airs on WTTW this Monday, November 5.