Spotlight

Arts Commentary: When Books Become Evidence — Hong Kong’s Raids and the New Global War on Dissent

July 19, 2026
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Every bookshelf becomes a latent crime scene: China’s all-too-familiar totalitarian playbook to encourage self-censorship.

Arts Remembrance: Actor Sam Neill — Charm, Gravity, and a Hint of Mischief

July 15, 2026
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Handsome yet not easily typecast, Sam Neill built a quietly remarkable career playing heroes, villains, lovers, weirdos, and everything in between.

Arts Commentary: The Kennedy Center and the Boston Symphony Orchestra — A Tale of Two Crises

June 18, 2026
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A court-ordered reset in Washington and a self-inflicted rupture in Boston expose deeper failures of leadership, transparency, and trust.

Spring 2026 Appeal — Keep the Fuse Lit!

June 15, 2026
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Your support helps us pay our writers, expand our coverage, and keep independent arts criticism and cultural commentary available without a paywall.

Arts Commentary: What Might the Kennedy Center Best Become?

June 14, 2026
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A reconsideration of the Kennedy Center’s unrealized national mission—and what its future could yet hold.

Book Review: “Defending the Music” – A Bracing Voice from a Bolder Critical Age

May 23, 2026
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This substantial collection of the writings of classical music critic Michael Steinberg evokes a time when critics educated, provoked, and helped build cultural life.

Arts Commentary: The Boston Symphony’s New Humanities Blueprint Makes Sense

May 4, 2026
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Why festival programming—and humanities partnerships—can help the BSO.

Music Commentary: Big Ears 2026 — Another View

April 10, 2026
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A diary of shows attended – good, bad, and indifferent — at this year’s Big Ears Festival, as well as comments on some of the non-musical joys and hassles.

Music Commentary: Brian Wilson’s Legacy Thrives — 2026 Reissues Reviewed

March 30, 2026
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Though Brian Wilson has left us, his enormous musical legacy lives on through a growing series of posthumous CD and vinyl reissues and books.

Arts Commentary: These Goose Steps Don’t Lie — Shakira in El Salvador and the “New Security” Aesthetic

March 13, 2026
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The artist is a glitzy ribbon that ties together incompatible images—the mega-prison and the megastar.

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