Politics & Power Quote by Lara St. John

The parenthetical aside, "(you heard it here)", is doing sly work: it turns a bureaucratic gripe into a wink at the audience, like a musician leaning off the stage mid-phrase to tell you what the program notes will politely omit. Lara St. John frames immigration not as an abstract policy debate but as an on-the-ground career constraint, the kind that decides who gets to show up for rehearsal, who gets tenure-track stability, who keeps piecing together gigs across borders.

The intent is pointed but not performatively outraged. She’s signaling two truths at once: first, that the U.S. treats even friendly-neighbor talent as paperwork to be rationed; second, that elite institutions can often route around the system when they’re sufficiently motivated. That last clause, "they have their ways", carries the most subtext. It’s a polite phrase for an impolite reality: gatekeepers can soften hard rules, but usually only for the already-anointed. The system becomes less about merit in the broad sense and more about leverage, lawyers, and the orchestral equivalent of back channels.

Context matters here because classical music loves to market itself as borderless and universal, while its labor market is intensely national, credentialed, and vulnerable to policy shifts. St. John punctures the romance: artistry may travel, but artists are processed. The line lands because it’s casual, even chatty, while describing something consequential: how cultural institutions quietly depend on privilege and exceptions to keep the “best” in the room.