Physical attractiveness now functions as a tacit career precondition in classical music

Evidence

A case in point is the otherwise conservative domain of classical music, where physical and sexual beauty (exemplified in performances by such artists as Yuja Wang and Khatia Buniatishvili) has emerged as implicit preconditions for a successful career. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 581

Categorization

• CANDY: A conversation-worthy observation that even the most tradition-bound domain now implicitly demands physical beauty.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: has this been documented empirically, and does it apply equally to male performers?
• XREF: connects to: Physically attractive people are judged superior on unrelated personality and character dimensions — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 91