Anthony Tommasini

Last updated

Anthony Tommasini
Born
Anthony Carl Tommasini

(1948-04-14) April 14, 1948 (age 74)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupations
Notable credits

Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. [1] Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", [2] Tommasini was the chief classical music critic for The New York Times from 2000 to 2021. Also a pianist, he has released two CDS and two books on the music of his colleague and mentor, the composer and critic Virgil Thomson.

Contents

A classical music enthusiast since his youth, Tommasini attended both Yale University and Boston University to study piano, and then taught music at Emerson College. In 1986 he left academia to write music criticism for The Boston Globe . Tommasini joined the Times in 1996 and became their chief classical music critic in 2000 for over two decades. He traveled to cover important premieres of contemporary classical music, encouraged diversity in both classical repertoire and ensembles, and wrote books covering influential operas and composers.

Early life and education

Anthony Carl Tommasini was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 14, 1948. [1] [lower-alpha 1] He grew up in a family of five in Malverne on Long Island, New York. [3] [4] Though his parents were not musically inclined, Tommasini was interested in classical music from a young age. [5] Beginning piano lessons in his youth, at 16 years of age he won a piano competition at The Town Hall in Manhattan, performing a Mozart concerto. [6] From age 15 on, he regularly attended the Metropolitan Opera, with operas by Puccini being particular favorites. [4] Other impressionable performances included Joan Sutherland as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor ; Birgit Nilsson as the title role of Puccini's Turandot ; Renata Tebaldi as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème ; and Leontyne Price as the title role of Verdi's Aida . [6] From his teens, Tommasini also cites a performance of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring as particularly inspirational. [7] He was a fan of the pianist Rudolf Serkin, whose recitals he frequently attended, and was overwhelmed by Igor Stravinsky conducting the Symphony of Psalms at the Lincoln Center. [8] A graduate of Saint Paul's School in Garden City, New York, [9] Tommasini studied piano with Donald Currier at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts (1970) and a Master of Music (1972). [1] He subsequently earned a Doctor of Musical Arts (1982) from Boston University, during which he studied with the pianist Leonard Shure. [1] A decade later, he won the 1998 Boston University School of Music Distinguished Alumni Award. [6]

Career

Based in Boston, Tommasini taught music at Emerson College from 1978 to 1986, and also led nonfiction writing workshops at Wesleyan University and Brandeis University. [1] In 1985 at Emerson, he met the composer Virgil Thomson, who became both a friend and mentor. [10] Tommasini published a survey of Thomson's piano music, Virgil Thomson's Musical Portraits (1986), [11] which was a revision and expansion of his 1982 DMA dissertation. [12] He was denied tenure at Emerson College, as the college eliminated his position; Tommasini later noted that although disappointing, "the best thing that ever happened to me was not getting tenure at Emerson, or I might still be there, and none of [my future career] would've happened". [10] In response, Tommasini turned to music criticism. [10] He was a freelancer, and wrote for The Boston Globe for a decade, beginning in 1986. [6]

Tommasini became a staff writer for The New York Times in 1996, and was promoted to chief classical music critic in 2000. [6] In addition to Thomson, his mentors include Richard Dyer, who was chief classical music critic of The Boston Globe for 33 years. [6] At the Times, Tommasini traveled for important premieres of contemporary classical music, including Saariaho's L'Amour de loin (2000), Adès's The Tempest (2004) and Turnage's Anna Nicole (2011). [2] He covered certain musicians particularly often, such as Peter Serkin, Leif Ove Andsnes, Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen. [2] Tommasini often advocated for increased diversity in the classical music world; [2] his comment that "American orchestras should think a little less about how they play and a little more about what they play and why they play it" is often quoted. [7] In this regard, his colleagues at the Times described him as "something of a provocateur: challenging the field to take more risks, embrace new music and rethink old, hidebound habits". [2] Tommasini's 2020 article which suggested blind auditions be abandoned so race can be considered to assist in diversifying ensembles was met with "intense debate". [2] [13] Tommasini stepped down from his post in 2021; with a 21 year tenure he has been chief classical music critic of The New York Times for the longest period since Olin Downes. [2] [lower-alpha 2] In April 2022, music critic Zachary Woolfe was named Tommasini's successor as chief classical music critic for the Times. [15]

Tommasini is the author of Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle, [16] which received the 1998 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, and Opera: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings. [17] [12] Also a pianist, Tommasini made two recordings of music by Virgil Thomson for Northeastern Records, Portraits and Self-Portraits and Mostly About Love: Songs and Vocal Works. [12] Both were funded through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. [12]

Tommasini lives on Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City with his husband Ben McCommon, who is a psychiatrist. [6] [8] After his leave from the Times at the end of 2021, Tommasini said he might return to teaching, and that he has two further book ideas. [7]

Selected publications

Books
Articles

Discography

Recordings by Anthony Tommasini [12]
YearAlbumPerformersLabel
1990Portraits and Self Portraits
Works by Virgil Thomson 		Anthony Tommasini, piano; and Sharan Leventhal violinNortheastern Records [25] [26]
1994Mostly about Love: Songs and Vocal Works
Works by Virgil Thomson 		Anthony Tommasini, piano; various others [lower-alpha 3] Northeastern Records [27] [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgil Thomson</span> American composer and critic (1896–1989)

Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist, and a composer of "an Olympian blend of humanity and detachment" whose "expressive voice was always carefully muted" until his late opera Lord Byron which, in contrast to all his previous work, exhibited an emotional content that rises to "moments of real passion".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Rorem</span> American composer and writer (1923–2022)

Ned Rorem was an American composer of contemporary classical music and a writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Although he wrote works for piano, orchestra and chamber ensemble and solo instruments, he considered all of his music vocal and song-like in nature. Rorem's interest in song centered not on the human voice, but the setting of poetry, as he was deeply familiar with and fond of English literature. A writer himself, he kept—and later published—numerous diaries in which he spoke candidly of his exchanges and relationships with many cultural figures of America and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Adès</span> British composer, pianist and conductor

Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).

Lord Byron is an opera in three acts by Virgil Thomson to an original English libretto by Jack Larson, inspired by the historical character Lord Byron. This was Thomson's third and final opera. He wrote it on commission from the Ford Foundation for the Metropolitan Opera (Met), but the Met never produced the opera. The first performance was at Lincoln Center, New York City on April 20, 1972, by the music department of the Juilliard School with John Houseman as stage director, Gerhard Samuel as the conductor and Alvin Ailey as the choreographer. A performance of a revised version, by the composer, took place in 1985 with the New York Opera Repertory Theater.

David Eric Robertson is an American conductor. He was chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and was formerly music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2005 until 2018. He is Director of Orchestral Studies at Juilliard.

Robert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and music director laureate of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Gelb</span>

Peter Gelb is an American arts administrator. Since August 2006, he has been General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Levine</span> American conductor and pianist (1943–2021)

James Lawrence Levine was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 12, 2018, over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Gilbert (conductor)</span> American conductor and violinist

Alan Gilbert is an American conductor and violinist. He is principal conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and music director of Royal Swedish Opera. He was music director of the New York Philharmonic from 2009 to 2017.

<i>The Mother of Us All</i>

The Mother of Us All is a two-act opera composed by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein. Thomson and Stein met in 1945 to begin the writing process, almost twenty years after their first collaborative project, the opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Stein wrote the libretto in the winter of 1945–46 before sending it to Thomson in March. After Stein's death in July, Thomson began working on the score, which he finished within just a few months. The opera centers around Susan B. Anthony, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States, with a supporting cast of characters both fictional and based on other historical figures. Thomson famously described the work as a "pageant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Page (music critic)</span> American journalist (born 1954)

Tim Page is an American writer, music critic, editor, producer and professor who won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his music criticism for The Washington Post. Anthony Tommasini, the chief music critic for The New York Times, has praised Page's criticism for its "extensive knowledge of cultural history, especially literature; the instincts and news sense of a sharp beat reporter; the skills of a good storyteller; infectious inquisitiveness; immunity to dogma; and an always-running pomposity detector." Other notable writings by Page include his biography of the novelist Dawn Powell, which is credited for helping to spark the revival of Powell's work, and a memoir that chronicles growing up with undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Dubal</span> American musician

David Dubal is an American pianist, teacher, author, lecturer, broadcaster, and painter.

Scott Wheeler is an American concert-music composer, born February 24, 1952, in Washington, D.C., now based in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1989, he has been on the faculty of Emerson College in Boston, where he has co-directed the music theater program. Wheeler co-founded and for many years was artistic director of the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, of which he remains artistic adviser. As an active conductor and an advocate for the music of his colleagues, he has led numerous world and local premieres and recorded several compact discs. Wheeler is on the board of directors of the Virgil Thomson Foundation, a composer advocacy group. He attended Amherst College, the New England Conservatory, and Brandeis University and counts Virgil Thomson among his teachers. He was also a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center and in 1988 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Minna Lederman Daniel was a music writer and editor of the magazine Modern Music for more than 20 years.

Symphony on a Hymn Tune is a four-movement orchestral composition by the American composer Virgil Thomson. The work was Thomson's first symphony and was composed between 1926 and 1928 while Thomson studied with the composer Nadia Boulanger in Paris. However, the work was not premiered until February 22, 1945, with Thomson leading the Philharmonic Symphony Society in New York City.

Ken Noda is an American concert pianist, accompanist, vocal coach, and composer. He began composing music and performing as a concert pianist before the age of 11. He has performed with symphony orchestras throughout the world, and has composed numerous art songs and five operas. He worked as a vocal coach at the Metropolitan Opera from 1991 until retiring from his full time position in July 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Grosser</span> American painter

Maurice Grosser was an American painter, art critic, and writer. He was the longtime companion of Virgil Thomson.

The Alice M. Ditson Fund, founded in 1940, supports contemporary American music. Significant ongoing awards include the Ditson Conductor's Award.

Richard M. Dyer is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Described by the music critic Alex Ross as "a dean of the profession", from 1976 to 2006 he was the chief classical music critic of The Boston Globe. Educated with degrees in English, Dyer had studied piano and been an opera fan since his youth. He embarked on music criticism following a well-received 1973 article in The New York Times on the soprano Renata Tebaldi, and soon joined the staff of the Globe. A diverse critic, his writings have extended to numerous other news publications, as well as music encyclopedias, liner notes and program notes. He has served on the juries of many piano competitions, and lectured at a variety of universities.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ See Tommasini's full name, Anthony Carl Tommasini, in Tommasini (1984, p. 234)
  2. ↑ Olin Downes was chief classical music critic for 31 years, from 1924 to 1955. [14]
  3. ↑ Nancy Armstrong, soprano; D'Anna Fortunato, mezzo-soprano; Frank Kelley and Paul Kirby tenor; Sanford Sylvan, baritone; David Ripley, bass; James Russell Smith, percussion. [27]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ceriani 2016, para. 1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cruz, Gilbert; Cooper, Michael (November 15, 2021). "A Coda, and Many Bravos, for Anthony Tommasini". The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  3. ↑ Peterson, Tyler (October 4, 2013). "NY Times' Anthony Tommasini, Director Tony Palmer Set for CCM's Richard Wagner Celebration this Month". BroadwayWorld. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Seligson 2011, p. 22.
  5. ↑ Seligson 2011, pp. 22–24.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Seligson 2011, p. 24.
  7. 1 2 3 Tommasini, Anthony (December 18, 2021). "Anthony Tommasini, classical critic for the Times, looks back ahead of retirement" (Interview). Interviewed by Scott Simon. National Public Radio. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Talk to the Newsroom: Chief Classical Music Critic". The New York Times . February 8, 2009. Archived from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  9. ↑ Seligson 2011, p. 25.
  10. 1 2 3 Seligson 2011, p. 26.
  11. ↑ Tommasini 1986.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Ceriani 2016, para. 2.
  13. ↑ Tommasini 2020.
  14. ↑ Newsom, Jon (2001). "Downes, (Edwin) Olin" . Grove Music Online . Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08109. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0. Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2022.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
  15. ↑ Cruz, Gilbert; Michel, Sia (April 5, 2022). "Zachary Woolfe Named Classical Music Critic". The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  16. ↑ Tommasini 1997.
  17. ↑ Tommasini 2004.
  18. ↑ McCarthy, S. Margaret William (Spring 1988). "Reviewed Works: Virgil Thomson's Musical Portraits by Anthony Tommasini; Virgil Thomson: A Bio-Bibliography by Michael Meckna". American Music . 6 (1): 106–108. doi:10.2307/3448356. JSTOR   3448356.
  19. ↑ Meckna, Michael (1989). "Reviewed Work: Virgil Thomson's Musical Portraits by Anthony Tommasini". The Musical Quarterly . 73 (1): 144–146. doi:10.1093/mq/73.1.144. JSTOR   741863.
  20. ↑ Dickinson, Peter (August 1999). "Reviewed Work: Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle by Anthony Tommasini". Music & Letters . 80 (3). JSTOR   855054.
  21. ↑ Croan, Robert (October 5, 1997). "'Virgil Thomson: Composer On The Aisle' by Anthony Tommasini". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Archived from the original on December 5, 2004. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  22. ↑ Kaufman, Thomas G. (Summer 2005). "Opera: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings (review)". The Opera Quarterly . 21 (3): 528–530. doi:10.1093/oq/kbi043.
  23. ↑ Lopate, Phillip (November 29, 2018). "The Greatest Composers Ever". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  24. ↑ Croan, Robert (January 13, 2019). "'Indispensable Composers': Anthony Tommasini's opinionated guide to classical composers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  25. ↑ Portraits and Self Portraits. WorldCat. OCLC   1042279888. Archived from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  26. ↑ Virgil Thomson: Portraits and Self Portraits at AllMusic . Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  27. 1 2 Mostly about Love: Songs and Vocal Works. WorldCat. OCLC   1006453264. Archived from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  28. ↑ Mostly about Love: Songs and Vocal Works at AllMusic . Retrieved 6 September 2022.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.