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Surface Vibrations
How Steinway’s soundboards got stuck in an American battle over logging regulation
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Breaking
All Fired Up
The most persistent critic of the chaos at the Boston Symphony Orchestra is an anonymous, AI-generated “investigative journalism” site. It’s not just readers who should pay attention to Cadenza’s embrace of automation.
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Boosts and Bruises
Fellowships for musicians of color have long been touted as a strategy to diversify American orchestras. Are they working for Black musicians?
In Defense of the Program Note
Thoughtful written concert programs are on the outs. But they remain essential guiding lights for listening.
License to Earn
Regional orchestras see film music concerts as a way to generate money and expand their audience. But do these events benefit smaller ensembles, or big intellectual property holders instead?
Opera’s Siren Servers
In its many lives, the platform Operabase has tried to become indispensable. Will its purchase this week by Events.com finally make that possible?
Life After Monsieur
In memory of Hans Messner, who died this week after dedicating most of his life to Pierre Boulez
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Human-reported investigations less than 35,000 words
Welcome to Shorworld
A hedge fund multimillionaire turned composer. A businessman with apparent links to the Russian state. A cohort of superstar performers all too happy to look the other way. Inside classical music’s large, lucrative parallel world.
The Struggle Bus
The Komische Oper says every euro is a struggle. How careful are its leaders being with its funding?
Tainted History
Former Juilliard composition students share allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct
The Titan’s Shadow
Daniel Barenboim is a great musician and humanist. So why are so many people afraid of him?
American wilderness
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New in VAN
Pre-Election Paralysis
Julien Chavaz, the artistic director the Theater Magdeburg, on what an AfD government would mean for his house
Bach Festival Leipzig Stands By John Eliot Gardiner
The conductor will return to the festival following an allegation of “boundary crossing misconduct”
Plenty of Fish
Le Poisson Rouge was New York’s leading alternative classical music venue. So how did it end up as a commercial club—and what does its decline mean for classical’s counterculture?
Tristan and Isolde and the Politicians
How political interference almost sunk the first São Paulo performance of Wagner’s opera in nearly 50 years
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Last But Not Least
