Nathan Shields

Nathan Shields is a composer and critic who teaches at St. John’s College and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. He is working on a cultural history of classical music. (February 2026)

Liberalism’s Pianist

Can Igor Levit restore classical music’s claim to cultural and political authority, or is it irrevocably lost?

House Concert

by Igor Levit and Florian Zinnecker, translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside

Beethoven in the Bunker

by Fred Brouwers, translated from the Dutch by Eileen J. Stevens

February 12, 2026 issue

‘Every Carnival Has Its End’

A recent performance by the Santa Fe Opera of Don Giovanni showed what is gained—and what is lost—in demystifying its demon protagonist.

January 12, 2025

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