Why do American orchestral musicians always look so unhappy onstage? Are they actually that cynical? Is it merely a desire not to show up one’s fellow musicians? Are the players exhausted from what is admittedly a tough schedule of rehearsals and concerts? Or is the music really so difficult that looking happy to be playing it becomes a physical impossibility? “Classical music, it seems, is the only genre that abides and encourages such affectlessness… Well-intentioned though it may be, this stoic style does nothing to bridge the communication chasm between orchestras and audiences.”