THE MAGAZINE
From London with Love: Is Lucian Freud Overrated?
What happens when Peggy Guggenheim sells your first paintings–and Sigmund Freud is your grandfather? Visiting Lucian Freud’s latest show at London’s National Portrait Gallery, “Drawing into Painting,” I went in curious and left underwhelmed. Read on to find out why.
Interview: Chloe Helimets, 16, Student at the Paris Opera Ballet School and Prix de Lausanne 2025 Finalist
From Prix de Lausanne finalist to student at the Paris Opera Ballet School, Chloe Helimets reflects on French technique, the legendary défilé at the Palais Garnier, and what it takes to refine speed, precision, and elegance at sixteen. Check out her exclusive interview with TWoA now.
Who Do You Dance For? Looking Into Degas’s Dancers and Ballet Itself
Were Degas’ dancers monstrous, animalistic social climbers–or misunderstood performers? TWoA reframes ballet in Degas’ oeuvre as a demanding art of movement, labour, and correction. It gives both him and his dancers the credit they are due. Read on for more.
What is Music?
Is music simply organised sound—or something more elusive? From John Cage to Christopher Small’s idea of “musicking,” we explore why the boundary between music and noise is less objective than we might hope. Read on for more.
From Berlin with Love: The Miraculous Return of a Cello Legend
Rain, empty seats, and a changed programme set the scene. What followed was a fragile, powerful encounter with Mischa Maisky—part concert, part reckoning with resilience, ageing, and what it means to return to music after the body almost gives in. Read on for more.
Singing for Peace in Jerusalem?
What happens when singing meets dialogue? Inside a Jerusalem youth choir where Israeli and Palestinian teens rehearse together, share their stories, and learn to stay in the room—especially when it’s hardest. Read on for more.
The Orchestra Does A Mic Drop: Examining Classical Pop
What happens when pop opens its doors to the orchestra? From ROSALÍA’s baroque-inflected “Berghain” to the symphonic experiments of Laufey and Cody Fry, classical pop is dissolving genre boundaries—and inviting new listeners in.
Holy Cow! A Semi-Skimmed History of Milk in Visual Culture
Milk may seem ordinary, but its visual history is anything but. From sacred nourishment and Dutch domesticity to nationalist advertising under Ronald Reagan and dystopian cinema, milk has been shaped into one of culture’s most contradictory symbols. Read on for more.
From London with Love: On Lee Miller and the End of Innocence
From Vogue photoshoots to pictures taken in Hitler’s bathtub, Lee Miller’s exhibition at Tate Britain was not what I expected. Read on to discover the erotics, travels, and violence of photography–and find out how a woman’s work defined 20th-century photography.
Conflict Resolution, Greenland Style
As geopolitical tensions once again draw global attention to Greenland, its cultural history offers a revealing counterpoint. For over four millennia, Greenlandic Inuit communities have used drum song and dance not only for ritual and social life, but also as a structured, non-violent way to resolve disputes. In a drum duel, restraint—not aggression—determined the outcome, leaving judgment to the community rather than to force.
Maestro Dudamel: A Venezuelan Saga
From Venezuela’s El Sistema to the podiums of the world’s leading orchestras, Gustavo Dudamel’s career has unfolded alongside profound political change. As he prepares to take on the leadership of the New York Philharmonic, questions about art, power, and responsibility follow close behind. This article traces Dudamel’s rise while examining the uneasy space where music, state influence, and public expectation meet.
Winter with Van Gogh, Monet and Stieglitz
Snow has long fascinated artists for its ability to transform the familiar into something fleeting and uncertain. In the nineteenth century, painters and photographers turned to winter cityscapes to explore the growing tension between industrial life and the natural world. Through works by Van Gogh, Monet, and Stieglitz, this article reflects on snow as both a poetic presence and a quiet reminder of nature’s endurance.
Piano Department Film Night
When orchestral projects took over music school, pianists were left with unexpected free time—and an unusual solution. Enter the Piano Department Film Night: documentaries, lectures, and YouTube deep dives watched on an ancient projector. From Cziffra to Glenn Gould to Juilliard practice rooms, this is a pianist’s guide to what’s worth watching.
On Artists and New Year Resolutions
Across time, artists have used painting to declare identity and ambition to the public. From Dürer to Picasso to Kehinde Wiley, TWoA follows how resolution and intention—once made visible—have reshaped the art-historical canon itself.
Ballet Across the Globe: George Balanchine
Often credited with shaping ballet in America, George Balanchine transformed classical tradition through musicality, abstraction, and athleticism. From his early training in Imperial Russia to his collaborations with the Ballets Russes and the founding of New York City Ballet, his career spans continents and artistic movements. This article explores how Balanchine’s neoclassical vision redefined what ballet could be.
Ode to Manipulation
Beethoven’s symphonies are often described as profound, moving, and universal—but history complicates that reverence. From Nazi Germany to Stalinist Russia to modern political institutions, his music has repeatedly been co-opted to serve conflicting ideologies. This article asks whether the feeling of being “moved” is as innocent as it seems, or whether its very emptiness makes it dangerously adaptable.
Letter from New York: Merry Christmas from the Queen of the Night
Join our New York correspondent on a crisp walk through Midtown Manhattan and greet Christmas with the Queen of the Night at the Metropolitan Opera.
Winter Solstice: Dancing into a Bright New Year
Across continents and centuries, dance becomes a shared language of hope as communities greet the winter solstice. TWoA traces the radiant lineage from Iranian Yalda nights and Nordic Lucia processions to Peru’s revived Incan Inti Raymi, revealing how movement carries light through the year’s darkest threshold.
The Art of Astrology, Pre Co-Star
Long before Co-Star, Europe’s wealthiest men were proudly inscribing their natal charts onto walls, ceilings, and frescoes. From Chigi’s astrologically coded villa in Rome to the Medici palaces of Florence—and later, the cosmic visions of Cocteau and Dalí—astrology has shaped art and architecture for centuries. TWoA traces how Renaissance elites and modern masters alike used the zodiac to script power, meaning, and identity across eras. Read on to find out how.
Stravinsky’s Score for “The Rite of Spring” Didn’t Cause a Riot
The myth insists that Stravinsky’s score ignited a riot in 1913—but the truth is far more layered. TWoA revisits the premiere of The Rite of Spring, tracing how Nijinsky’s “anti-ballet” choreography, shaky orchestral execution, and a restless Parisian audience collided to create one of modernism’s great origin stories. A deeper look at the night that changed music history, just not in the way we’re told.