Mary Ann Feldman (April 20, 1933 – February 18, 2019) was an American music critic. Born Mary Ann Janisch in

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, Feldman grew up in the Frogtown neighborhood of the city. Her parents were the proprietors of a small restaurant there.Ross, Jenna, She was educated at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, where she studied journalism and music history and received a BA in 1954. While there she wrote music reviews for the ''

Minnesota Daily The ''Minnesota Daily'' is the campus newspaper of the University of Minnesota, published Monday and Thursday while school is in session, and published weekly on Wednesdays during summer sessions. Published since 1900, the paper is currently the ...

'' under the pseudonym "V. I. Olin". In 1957 she completed her MA in musicology at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, which she had chosen for the opportunity to study with

Paul Henry Lang Paul Henry Lang (August 28, 1901 – September 21, 1991) was a Hungarian- American musicologist and music critic. Career Lang was born as "Pál Láng" in Budapest, Hungary, and was educated in Catholic schools. In 1918, as World War I was comi ...

. In 1983 she received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where she took as the subject of her dissertation George Putnam Upton; she had previously taught at the university for a number of years. In 1963 she began to work for the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Th ...

, where she would spend four decades working in the fields of music advising and public affairs. Among her many roles there, she edited the monthly program books; gave pre-concert lectures; aided in the establishments of the yearly Sommerfest; and assisted in documenting the organization's history. Her program notes were especially well-regarded, being described by one writer as "erudite and witty". From 1977 until 1981 Feldman was a member of the board of directors of the Music Critics Association; until 1986 she was the vice-president of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

for the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

. Beginning in 1996 she worked for the Grand Teton Music Festival as a writer and speaker. Her interests during her career included such diverse topics as theories of music criticism; the history of music critics active in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

; and the musical history of Minnesota. Her writing appeared in such outlets as ''

Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online magazine, online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. ...

'', ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' was an American classical music magazine. It was published from 1936 to 2023 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild—a non-profit organization, located at Lincoln Center, that was founded to promote opera and support the Metropolitan ...

'', the ''

Minneapolis Star ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

'', and the ''

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the History of music, ...

'', as well as publications of the Schubert Club International Artists Series. Feldman died in Minneapolis of complications from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, from which she had suffered for more than a decade. Her husband, Harold, a computer technician, died of

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

in 2016. She is buried in

Lakewood Cemetery Lakewood Cemetery is a large private, non-sectarian, rural cemetery located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is located at 3600 Hennepin Avenue at the southern end of the Uptown, Minneapolis, Uptown area. It is noted for its chapel ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feldman, Mary Ann 1933 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American women journalists American music critics American women music critics 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American women writers American public relations people Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota Journalists from Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni Columbia University alumni University of Minnesota faculty Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Minnesota Burials at Lakewood Cemetery American women academics Sigma Alpha Iota