Tim Smith is an American music critic who specializes in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. He was chief classical music critic for ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

'' from 2000–2019.

Life and career

Born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, he received a B.A. in music history from Eisenhower College and an M.A. in music history from

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He was a freelance reviewer for ''The Washington Star'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' before becoming classical music critic at the ''South Florida

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its Nameplate (publishing), masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ...

'' in 1981. He joined the staff of ''

'' in 2000, serving as classical music critic and, starting in 2009, also as theater critic. He retired in November 2019, after a year handling a third beat as restaurant critic, when the paper began limiting performing arts reviews. He currently has a blog called "By Tim Smith." Smith has also written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original owner and publisher together with ...

'' and other publications. In 1998, he received a first place award from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors for Excellence in Feature Writing: Arts Criticism. Smith was elected president of the

Music Critics Association of North America The Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) is a society for music critics of classical music in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1956, the MCANA is a member of the National Music Council and both publishes an annual newslett ...

in 2005 and served two terms. In 2002, Perigee Books published Smith's ''NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music''.Symphony, Volume 53, Issue 6, American Symphony Orchestra League

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Tim American male journalists American classical music critics Journalists from Washington, D.C. Living people Occidental College alumni The Baltimore Sun people The New York Times journalists The Washington Post people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists