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.

by Hugh Morris and Jeffrey Arlo Brown September 11, 2024February 14, 2025

Alexey Shor (Public Domain / CC0 via Wiki Commons) • Alexandra Miteran (Screenshot taken from Instagram) • Konstantin Ishkhanov (© Nikolay Vinokurov / Alamy Stock Foto) • Malta Map (Nathan Hughes Hamilton, CC BY 2.0) • Dubai (giggel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) • Collage: Alex Ketzer / VAN

“Fortune is like a bird in a wood. If we know how to whistle to her she will come to us.” —from pianist Ashley Wass’s biography on X, unattributed

Unlimited access to our
weekly issues and archives.

Already have an account?

Hugh Morris

Hugh Morris is a freelance writer and editor based in London. More by Hugh Morris

Jeffrey Arlo Brown

… has been an editor at VAN since 2015. He’s the author of The Life and Music of Gérard Grisey: Delirium and Form (Boydell & Brewer), and his journalism has appeared in The Baffler, the New York... More by Jeffrey Arlo Brown

To continue reading, subscribe now.

Unlimited access to ourweekly issues and archives.

Already have an account?

Hugh Morris

Jeffrey Arlo Brown

Sign up for newsletters

Unlimited access to our
weekly issues and archives.