Anne Midgette

Anne Midgette (born June 22, 1965) is an American music critic who was the first woman to write classical music criticism regularly for ''The New York Times''. She was the chief classical music critic of ''The Washington Post'' from 2008 to 2019, prior to which she wrote for ''The New York Times'' from 2001 to 2007. A specialist in opera and composers of contemporary classical music, Midgette advocates the importance of online criticism and has previously maintained a classical music blog. As a freelance writer she published in a wide variety of publications, sometimes covering other fields such as dance, theater, film and the visual arts. She is the co-author of two books, one with Herbert Breslin on his management of Luciano Pavarotti, and another with the pianist Leon Fleisher on his career.

Life and career

Anne Midgette was born in Portland, Oregon on June 22, 1965. Midgette grew up in Brooklyn, later moving to Roswell, New Mexico in the middle high school. Her first live theater experience was the New York premiere of Leonard Bernstein's ''Mass'' in 1972. She studied Classical Civilization at Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. After college, Midgette lived in Munich, Germany for nearly 12 years, during which she engaged in a variety of activities. This included traveling throughout Europe to review opera, music, dance, theater, film and the visual arts for ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Opera News'' and ''Opernwelt'' among other publications. She also did freelance writing for publications such as Deutsche Grammophon and BBC
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