I was a NY Times music critic 1976-1980. Since then have written innumerable articles for Times Arts & Leisure. I regularly review books and concerts for the Times Literary Supplement (UK). I used to review books for the LA Times before Steve Wasserman left. I have written prolifically for scholarly journals.

My seven books mainly deal with the history of classical music in the US. Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall (Norton 2005) was named one of the best books of the yr by The Economist. My book-in-progress for HarperCollins - Artists in Exile: How Refugees from War and Revolution Changed the American Performing Arts - includes chapters on dance, theater, film, and music. My most journalistic book is The Ivory Trade, mainly a first-person account of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth.

I pursue a parallel career as a producer/presenter of concerts, was Exec Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM in the 1990s. I co-founded a chamber orchestra in DC three yrs ago; it's thriving. I've worked as an artistic consultant for a dozen orchestras. I curate inter-disciplinary thematic festivals.

I was a Snr Fellow at NAJP, also serve as Artistic Director of the annual NEA music critics institute (an NAJP offshoot).

I am interested in serving on the NAJP board because I want it to survive and also because I have an agenda. I think arts journalism in the US is in a state of transition and confusion. I think (not all will agree) that arts journalists and critics are too much "hands-off" in the US, that all would benefit from a more engaged relationship with the community of artists. E.g., I think the NY Times Arts & Leisure should have a weekly Op-Ed page with articles by practitioners in the arts - a forum. I articulated all this in a speech for the Syracuse University arts journalism program; it's attached FYI.

In other words, I think that if it survives the NAJP should be more attentive to issues of policy, a think-tank and a watchdog. You can also read the text of a talk I gave at Syracuse University about the state of arts journalism.

Back to the voting page