Zachary Woolfe

Zachary Woolfe
Alma mater	Princeton University
Occupation	Music critic
Notable credits	The New York Times The New York Observer

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 .

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]}

In July 2025, the Times announced the reassignment of Woolfe—alongside critics such as Jesse Green and Jon Pareles—into new, unspecified roles. ^{[7] [8]}

Selected writings

• Woolfe, Zachary; Ross, Alex (2021). "The Evolving Role of Music Journalism". In Beckerman, Michael; Boghossian, Paul (eds.). Classical Music: Contemporary Perspectives and Challenges. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. ISBN   978-1-80064-116-7.

Articles

For other articles by Zachary Woolfe, see § External links.

• Woolfe, Zachary (October 23, 2011). "Charles Hamm, Author on American Popular Music, Dies at 86". The New York Times .
• —— (March 17, 2013). "Start With Adolescent Spirit, Then Grow into a Role". The New York Times .
• —— (April 17, 2013). "With Pulitzer, She Became a Composer". The New York Times .
• —— (January 24, 2014). "When It Comes to Nymphs and Princes, Water and Earth Don't Mix". The New York Times .
• —— (November 7, 2017). "At the Met Opera, a Note So High, It's Never Been Sung Before". The New York Times .
• —— (February 14, 2020). "Review: A Tale of Two Women at the New York Philharmonic". The New York Times .
• —— (April 29, 2021). "The Renaissance's Most Influential Composer, 500 Years Later". The New York Times .
• —— (December 1, 2023). "Filth and dementia". Parterre Box .

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. 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.
7. Spangler, Todd (July 15, 2025). "New York Times Culture Desk Shake-Up: Critics Margaret Lyons, Jon Pareles, Jesse Green, Zach Woolfe Reassigned to 'New Roles'". Variety . Retrieved July 15, 2025.
8. Weprin, Alex (July 15, 2025). "New York Times Reassigns Longtime Music, Theater and TV Critics in Surprise Move". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved July 16, 2025.

Further reading

• Bahr, Sarah (February 7, 2024). "A Critic Who Strives to Hit the Right Note". The New York Times .

External links

• Articles by Zachary Woolfe in The New York Times
• Articles by Zachary Woolfe in The Observer
• Zachary Woolfe on Twitter
• Zachary Woolfe at the Muck Rack journalist directory