Monster Mash: Seiji Ozawa ill; Holocaust museum shooter dies; new White House history center

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-- Leave of absence: Conductor Seiji Ozawa, 74, has canceled appearances over the next six months after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. (Reuters)

-- White supremacist: The 89-year-old man accused of opening fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June has died in custody. (The Washington Post)

-- This old house: A new center for White House history and education is set to open next year in Washington, D.C. (USA Today)

-- Breakdown: Labor talks have stalled between the Cleveland Orchestra and the union representing its musician employees. (The Cleveland Plain-Dealer)

-- Mysterious grin: An Italian doctor believes that the enigmatic smile of the ‘Mona Lisa’ is the result of the subject’s high cholesterol. (BBC News)

-- Back on stage: Jeremy Irons is returning to the Royal Shakespeare Company after more than 20 years to star in the world premiere of Dennis Kelly’s ‘The Gods Weep,’ which is set to open in March. (Playbill)

-- Plum role: Isabelle Huppert is the latest screen actress to assume the role of Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,’ which will be performed in French in a Paris production opening in February. (Bloomberg)

-- Appointment: Bill Moggridge has been named director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. (The New York Times)

-- Neighborly kindness?: New York City Opera has ceded four weeks in future seasons to City Ballet, with whom it shares the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. (Bloomberg)

-- Bofo box office: The Smithsonian Institution posts record attendance for 2009. (The Washington Post)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Principal flutist Mathieu Dufour has abruptly left the L.A. Philharmonic.

-- David Ng