Zachary Woolfe

American music critic

Princeton University

Occupation

Music critic

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.

Education and career

Woolfe studied at Princeton University.^[1] Although he "had written a little bit for newspapers in college", he had not anticipated a career in journalism.^[2] In 2008, however, a friend at The New York Observer asked Woolfe to assist in coverage of the 2008 US Open tennis tournament.^[2] After additional writing for the paper, Woolfe was offered a regular column in 2009, devoted to opera.^[2]

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.^[3]^[2]^[4]^[5]

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

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.

References

^ "Zachary Woolfe". The New York Times. June 13, 2018. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ "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.

External links

Articles by Zachary Woolfe in The New York Times
Articles by Zachary Woolfe in The Observer
Zachary Woolfe on Twitter
Zachary Woolfe on the Muck Rack journalist listing site

Chief classical music critics

The Boston Globe

Michael Steinberg (1964–1976)
Richard Dyer (1976–2006)
Jeremy Eichler (since 2006)

The Daily Telegraph

Campbell Clarke (1855?–1870)
Joseph Bennett (1870–1906)
Robin Legge (1906–1931)
Herbert Hughes (1911–1932)
Richard Capell (1933–1954)
Martin Cooper (1954–1976)
Peter Stadlen (1976–1985)
Michael Kennedy (1986–2005)
Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)
Ivan Hewett (since 2009)

The Guardian

George Fremantle (1867–1895)
Arthur Johnstone (1896–1904)
Ernest Newman (1905–1906)
Samuel Langford (1906–1927)
Neville Cardus (1927–1940)
Edward Greenfield (1977–1993)
Tom Service (1999–2003)
Andrew Clements (since 2003?)

Los Angeles Times

Isabel Morse Jones (1925–1947)
Albert Goldberg (1947–1965)
Martin Bernheimer (1965–1996)
Mark Swed (since 1996)

San Francisco Chronicle

Alfred Frankenstein (1934–1964)
Robert Commanday (1964–1993)
Joshua Kosman (since 1993)

The New Yorker

Robert A. Simon (1925–1948)
Winthrop Sargeant (1949–1972)
Andrew Porter (1972–1992)
Paul Griffiths (1992–1996)
Alex Ross (1996–present)

The New York Times

William James Henderson (1887–1902)
Richard Aldrich (1902–1923)
Olin Downes (1924–1955)
Howard Taubman (1955–1960)
Harold C. Schonberg (1960–1980)
Donal Henahan (1980–1991)
Edward Rothstein (1991–1995)
Bernard Holland (1995–2000)
Anthony Tommasini (2000–2021)
Zachary Woolfe (since 2022)

The Observer

Ernest Newman (1919)
Percy Scholes (1920–1925)
A. H. Fox Strangways (1925–1939)
William Glock (1939–1945)
Eric Blom (1949–1953)
Peter Heyworth (1955–1987)
Nicholas Kenyon (1986–1992)
Andrew Porter (1992–1996)
Anthony Holden (2000–2008)
Fiona Maddocks (since 2008)

The Times

James William Davison (1846–1879)
Francis Hueffer (1879–1889)
J A Fuller Maitland (1889–1911)
H. C. Colles (1911–1943)
A. H. Fox Strangways
Frank Howes (1943–1960)
William Mann (1960–1982)
Paul Griffiths (1982–1992)
Richard Morrison (since 1992)

The Washington Post

Paul Hume (1946–1982.)
Joseph McLellan (mid-1970s–1995)
Tim Page (1995–1999, 2001–2008)
Philip Kennicott (1999–2001)
Anne Midgette (2008–2019)
Michael Andor Brodeur (since 2020)

Others

Chicago Tribune
- George Putnam Upton (1861–1881)
- Frederick Grant Gleason (1884–1889)
Daily News
- George Hogarth (1846–1866)
Evening News
- Mosco Carner (1957–1961)
Evening Standard
- Percy Scholes (1913–1920)
- Barry Millington (2000s)
Financial Times
- Andrew Porter (1953–1972)
- Ronald Crichton (1972–1978)
Frankfurter Zeitung
- Paul Bekker
The Independent
- Bayan Northcott (1986–2009)
- Edward Seckerson (c. 2009–2012)
New York Daily News
- William Zakariasen (1976–1993)
New York Post
- Henry T Finck (1881–1924)
- Olga Samaroff (1926–1928)
San Francisco Examiner
- Michael Walsh (1977–1981)
Saturday Review
- William Barclay Squire (1888–1894)
The Scotsman
- Mary Miller (1992–1998)
Sunday Express
- Ralph Hill (1940s)
The Sunday Telegraph
- John Warrack (1961–1972)
- Michael Kennedy (1989–2005)
The Sydney Morning Herald
- Roger Covell (1960 – late 1990s)

Position abolished

Birmingham Post	Stephen Stratton (1877–1906) Ernest Newman (1906–1919) Eric Blom (1931–1946)

Daily Express	Francis Toye (1922–1925) Arthur Jacobs (1947–1952) Noël Goodwin (1965–1978)

Daily Mail	Richard Capell (1911–1933) Edwin Evans (1933–1945) Ralph Hill (1945–1948)

New Statesman	W. J. Turner (1915–1940) Desmond Shawe-Taylor (1945–1958) David Drew (1959–1967)

The Sunday Times	Joseph Bennett (1865–1870) Hermann Klein (1881–1901) Ernest Newman (1920–1959) Desmond Shawe-Taylor (1958–1983) David Cairns (1983–1992)

Discontinued

The Morning Chronicle	William Ayrton (1816–1826) George Hogarth (1834–1844) Charles Lewis Gruneisen (1845–1853)

The Morning Post	Howard Glover (1849–1865) Henry Sutherland Edwards Arthur Hervey (1892–1908) Francis Toye (1925–1937)

Neue Freie Presse	Eduard Hanslick (1864–1904) Julius Korngold (1904–1934)

New York Herald Tribune	Henry E Krehbiel (c. 1880–1923) Lawrence Gilman (1923-late 1930s) Virgil Thomson (1940–1954) Paul Lang (1954–1963) Alan Rich (1963–1968)