Alex Ross (born January 12, 1968) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. A staff member of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' 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). A graduate of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and student of composer Peter Lieberson, from 1992 to 1996 Ross was a critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. He has received wide acclaim for his publications; ''The Rest Is Noise'' was a finalist for the 2008

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are awarded annually for the "Letters, Drama, and Music" category. The award is given to a nonfiction book written by an American author and published duri ...

, and his other

awards and honors An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

include a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

and the Belmont Prize. He maintains a popular classical music blog, ''The Rest is Noise''.

Life and career

Alex Ross was born on January 12, 1968, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He attended the Potomac School in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxi ...

and St. Albans School in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, graduating in 1986. He was a 1990 graduate of

, where he studied under composer Peter Lieberson and was a DJ on the classical and underground rock departments of the college radio station,

WHRB WHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College. The station is owned by Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co., Inc., a non-profit corporation independent o ...

. During his time at Harvard he first began

music criticism ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

, writing reviews for '' Fanfare'', a classical music magazine. From 1992 to 1996 Ross was a music critic at ''

''. He also wrote for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'', '' Slate'', the '' London Review of Books'', '' Lingua Franca'', '' Fanfare'' and '' Feed''. He first contributed to ''

'' in 1993 and became a staff writer in 1996, succeeding Paul Griffiths. The music critic Edward Rothstein describes him as "trying to restore critical vigour by loosening the boundaries isolating the classical tradition from the world of politics and popular culture". Ross maintains a popular classical music blog, ''The Rest is Noise''. The musicologist Lars Helgert described the blog as "among the most highly regarded web resources for classical music criticism". His first book, '' The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century'', a cultural history of music since 1900, was released in the U.S. in 2007 by

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

and in the U.K. in 2008. The book received widespread critical praise in the U.S., garnering a

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. The book was also shortlisted for the 2008

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...

for nonfiction. His second book, ''Listen to This,'' was released in the U.S. in September 2010 by

and was published in the U.K. in November 2010. In September 2020, his third book ''Wagnerism'' came out. He married director Jonathan Lisecki in Canada in 2006. Ross is now based in New York City, living in

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northe ...

Selected bibliography

* * *

Awards and honors

He has received a

(2008), three ASCAP

Deems Taylor Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American music critic, composer, and promoter of classical music. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." Earl ...

Awards for music writing, and a

Holtzbrinck Holtzbrinck Publishing Group () is a Privately held company, privately held German company based in Stuttgart which Holding company, owns publishing companies worldwide. Through Macmillan Publishers, it is one of the Publishing#Book publishing, ...

fellowship at the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

. In 2012 he received the Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music at the pèlerinages Art Festival in Weimar. In 2016, he was awarded the Champion of New Music award by the American Composers Forum.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

* – Classical music blog
Articles by Alex Ross
on ''

''
Interview with Alex Ross
on

WQXR-FM WQXR-FM (105.9 FM) is an American non-commercial classical radio station, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serving the North Jersey and New York City area. It is owned by the nonprofit organization New York Public Radio, which also operates ...

Interview with Alex Ross
on ''The Next Track'' podcast
Interview with Alex Ross
on

WGLT WGLT is a public radio station owned by Illinois State University and broadcasting on 89.1 MHz at Normal, Illinois. It broadcasts primarily local news and NPR programs, plus music in the evenings and on weekends. The station's studio is in the O ...

Interview with Alex Ross
on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Alex 1968 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) American bloggers American music critics American music journalists Harvard University alumni Opera critics St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni American gay writers MacArthur Fellows 21st-century American non-fiction writers The New Yorker critics Classical music critics Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Writers from Washington, D.C. American male non-fiction writers American male bloggers Wagner scholars