Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Essays
Commentary
Critical Spillover
Notebook
Funny Ha-Ha
Decanonized
About
Commentary
Latest
Top
Discussions
When the Devil Drives
The Faustian fallouts of Leon Botstein and Peter Gelb
May 5
•
Olivia Giovetti
12
4
“There Is a Reason You Are Still Struggling and it Is Not Your Talent”
What the latest Epstein documents reveal about his relationship with Leon Botstein
Feb 4
•
Olivia Giovetti
32
6
5
Sight Unseen
Art, illusion, and the moral cost of looking away
Jan 7
•
Olivia Giovetti
9
5
4
Of Course Jeffrey Epstein Was a Beethoven Fan
The complicitous silence of cultural capital
Nov 20, 2025
•
Olivia Giovetti
19
9
6
Music Unties
Classical musicians continue to insist that art has nothing to do with politics.
Nov 14, 2025
•
Olivia Giovetti
12
7
6
Can We Please Stop Pretending that Music Is Going to Lift Us Above Anything, Let Alone the Current Global Political Landscape?
Can we please stop pretending that music is going to “lift us” above anything, let alone the current geopolitical situation?
Aug 21, 2025
•
Olivia Giovetti
19
6
4
The New Imperial Spectacle
What Arizona Opera's generative AI concert production of Aida gets right about Verdi's imperial spectacle — and why it's not good.
Mar 11, 2025
•
Olivia Giovetti
7
3
1
Digging in the Crates
Florence Price, Karen Slack, and a few thoughts towards redefining "rediscovered"
Feb 6, 2025
•
Olivia Giovetti
11
2
How Should a Critic Be?
Peter Gelb (still) really doesn't like critics.
Nov 20, 2024
•
Olivia Giovetti
15
4
This Is Not a Land of Kings
Or maybe it is… but it doesn't have to be.
Nov 15, 2024
•
Olivia Giovetti
8
2
Selective Interest
Narrative and cultural gaps, and butterflies from New York to Nagasaki
Sep 30, 2024
•
Olivia Giovetti
4
2
A Foot in Both Worlds
Remarks from last month's Make Freedom Ring concert in Berlin
Jun 12, 2024
•
Olivia Giovetti
8
1
1
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts