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The Numbers Game
How content creation is changing the landscape of classical music
The Art of the Ideal
What classical institutions mean when they say that “music can change the world”
Most read last week
Stand By Your Man
As emails seen by VAN show a high level of internal pushback regarding Norman Lebrecht’s rehiring by BBC Radio 3, why did the station’s controller sack him now—and why was he rehired in the first place?
The Art of the Ideal
What classical institutions mean when they say that “music can change the world”
Under The Mask
The conductor Rebecca Bryant Novak complained about an inappropriate comment by her professor at Eastman. What followed was a bureaucratic nightmare.
I Know, But: Andrea Bocelli
In an opera world flailing for mass appeal, there are worse things than an enthusiastic if underqualified crooner
Is Post-Piece Silence a Recession Indicator?
Silence is a precious and dangerous tool. Use it at your peril.
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Internet culture
“A Call To Action, Disguised As A Symphony”
Through her “Alan” project, lyricist, philanthropist and controversial former surgeon Susan Lim puts forward her ideas about transhumanism. Does the UK’s classical music scene have the strength to push back?
Classical Music in the Enshittocene
Everything online is getting worse. Classical music won’t be spared.
Making a living
The Other Wage Gap
American choristers have long suspected their work is valued less than that of their instrumental colleagues. A detailed quantitative analysis of the pay discrepancy shows they were right to be concerned.
Pay to Sing
Do expensive private courses like the Berlin Opera Academy really benefit young artists?
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New in VAN
Inside the UK’s Amateur University Opera Societies
What scrappy, low-budget opera for students gets right that professional opera doesn’t
(Almost) Every Piece by Darius Milhaud, Ranked
345 works from absolute turkeys to profound statements of faith
“All you had to do was go on Google”
When Frédéric Chaslin recommended a 21-year-old philosophy student for a job with Jeffrey Epstein, she decided to do her own research
Optimistic Nihilism
Olga Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek’s “Monster’s Paradise,” reviewed at the bar
From five years ago…
An Old, New Song
What happens when the haunting imagery of “Winterreise” darkens into pathology?
I Know, But: “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”
Seeing Past the Pastoral in Ralph Vaughan Williams
From ten years ago…
Last But Not Least
