Anthony Tommasini
Anthony Carl Tommasini (born 14 April 1948) 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. He is also a pianist and has released two CDS and two books on the music of Virgil Thomson. Early life and education. Anthony Carl Tommasini was born in Brooklyn, New York on 14 April 1948. He grew up in a family of five in Malverne on  Long Island, New York. Though his parents were not musically inclined, Tommasini was interested in classical music from a young age. 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. From age 15 on, he regularly attended the Metropolitan Opera, with operas by Puccini being particular favorites. 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". 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. 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. A graduate of Saint Paul's School in Garden City, New York, Tommasini studied piano with Donald Currier at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts (1970) and a Master of  Music (1972). He subsequently earned a Doctor of Musical Arts (1982) from Boston University, during which he studied with the pianist Leonard Shure. A decade later, he won the 1998 Boston University School of Music Distinguished Alumni Award. 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. At Emerson, he met the composer Virgil Thomson in 1985, and Thomson became both a friend and mentor. Tommasini published a survey of Thomson's piano music, "Virgil Thomson's Musical Portraits" (1986), which was a  revision and expansion of his 1982 DMA dissertation. 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 criticism career] would've happened". In response, Tommasini turned to music criticism. He was a freelancer, and wrote for "The Boston Globe" for a decade, beginning in 1986. Tommasini became a staff writer for "The New York Times" in 1996, and was promoted to chief classical music critic  in 2000. In addition to Thomson, his mentors include Richard Dyer, who was the "Boston Globe"'s classical music critic for 33 years. 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. In April 2022, music critic Zachary Woolfe was named Tommasini's successor as chief classical music critic for the "Times". Tommasini is the author of "Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle", which received the 1998 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, and "Opera: A Critic's Guide  to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings". 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". Both were funded through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Tommasini lives on Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City with his husband Ben McCommon, who is a psychiatrist. 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.