Maestro Belavarah gave the Academy of the Arts a second wind. Throwing out mediocre students and sycophants, s

Maestro Belavarah gave the Academy of the Arts a second wind. Throwing out mediocre students and sycophants, she gathered within its walls talented visionaries, rebels, and freethinkers — those whose gifts felt cramped within the walls of more respectable institutions. She managed to do what Irovetti never could, namely make the academy truly famous, albeit scandalously so. And so what if, instead of odes to the king, the academy releases sneering pamphlets and revolutionary leaflets? It only helps his reputation as a true patron of the arts.