Zachary Woolfe

Last updated

Zachary Woolfe
Alma mater
Occupation
Notable credits

Zachary Woolfe is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Since 2022 he has been chief classical music critic for The New York Times .

Contents

Education and career

As a teenager in the 1990s, Woolfe discovered the online opera magazine Parterre Box by James Jorden, whose pages he "returned to again and again". [1] Woolfe later studied at Princeton University. [2] Although he "had written a little bit for newspapers in college", he had not anticipated a career in journalism. [3] In 2008, however, a friend at The New York Observer asked Woolfe to assist in coverage of the 2008 US Open tennis tournament. [3] After additional writing for the paper, Woolfe was offered a regular column in 2009, devoted to opera. [3]

In 2011 Woolfe started working as a freelance music critic for The New York Times , reporting on opera festivals in the US and internationally. In 2015 he became classical music editor, before being appointed as chief classical music critic in 2022. [4] [3] [5] [6]

Selected writings

Articles

Related Research Articles

<i>Parterre Box</i> Online opera magazine

Parterre Box is an online magazine devoted to opera, which cultivates an attitude that may be deemed to be campy, critical and opinionated with explicitly gay overtones.

Anthony Carl Tommasini is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Ross (music critic)</span> American music critic (born 1968)

Alex Ross is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Ross has been a staff member of The New Yorker magazine since 1996. His extensive writings include performance and record reviews, industry updates, cultural commentary, and historical narratives in the realm of classical music. He has written three well-received books: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (2007), Listen to This (2011), and Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music (2020).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Gelb</span> American arts administrator (born 1953)

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">Royce Vavrek</span> Canadian-born librettist and writer

Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Mikael Karlsson, Ricky Ian Gordon, Paola Prestini and Du Yun, soprano Lauren Worsham, producers Beth Morrison and Lawrence Edelson, and conductors Steven Osgood, Julian Wachner and Alan Pierson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical music blog</span> Form of Music Blog

A classical music blog uses the blogging format to cover classical music issues from a wide range of perspectives, including music lovers, individual performers and ensembles, composers, arts organizations and music critics.

William Zakariasen was an American operatic tenor and music critic.

James Glenn Jorden was an American blogger, journalist and music critic who wrote about opera. He was known for founding and editing the zine Parterre Box.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Davidson</span> American classical music and architecture critic (born 1966)

Justin Davidson is an American classical music and architecture critic of Italian birth. He has been the New York magazine's critic in both disciplines since 2007.

<i>The Gospel According to the Other Mary</i>

The Gospel According to the Other Mary is an opera-oratorio by the American composer John Adams. The world premiere took place on May 31, 2012, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic who also premiered the staged version on March 7, 2013, at the same venue.

Ted Hearne is an American composer, singer and conductor. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Gregory Spears is an American composer of instrumental and operatic works that blend aspects of romanticism, minimalism, and early music. Among his best known works are the operas Fellow Travelers and Paul's Case, as well as his Requiem.

Hamlet is an opera in two acts by Australian composer Brett Dean, with an English libretto by Matthew Jocelyn, which is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. The libretto uses "as little as 20 per cent" of the play's text and also takes inspiration from the "first quarto" as it "offers a different view on certain moments".

Prototype Festival is an annual, weeklong contemporary opera and musical theater festival held in New York City.

Fire Shut Up in My Bones is an English-language opera in three acts, with music by Terence Blanchard and libretto by Kasi Lemmons.

Vladyslav Buialskyi is a Ukrainian bass-baritone. Since 2020, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera as a member of its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Fiona Maddocks is a British music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "one of the UK's leading writers and commentators on classical music", Maddocks has been chief music critic of The Observer since 2010. She held a central role in founding three media companies: BBC Music Magazine, Channel 4 and The Independent.

Castor and Patience is an opera composed by Gregory Spears to a libretto by Tracy K. Smith, commissioned by Cincinnati Opera for its 100th anniversary season and received its world premiere there in July 2022. The opera was developed by Opera Fusion: New Works, a collaboration between Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music which focuses on the creation of new American operas. The world premiere production was directed by Kevin Newbury and conducted by Kazem Abdullah.

David Hertzberg is an American composer of chamber, orchestral, and operatic music. He has received significant critical attention for his two site-specific operas, The Wake World and The Rose Elf, for which he wrote both music and libretto.

References

  1. Woolfe 2023.
  2. "Zachary Woolfe". The New York Times. June 13, 2018. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Taylor, Mark (January 12, 2022). "NYT Classical Music Editor Zachary Woolfe on Music Journalism". San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  4. 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 6, 2022.
  5. Smith, Steve (2017). "Zachary Woolfe: Curating Cultural Experiences in the Digital Domain". National Sawdust Log. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  6. "Music Critics' Round-Table". 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2022.

Further reading