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New York Times Critic Anthony Tommasini Argues That for Classical Music to Have the a Vibrant Future, It Has to Get Case Over Its Vibrant Past

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New York Times Critic Anthony Tommasini Argues That for Classical Music to Have the a Vibrant Future, It Has to Get Case Over Its Vibrant Past BY SUSAN SELIGSON New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini argues that for classical music to have The a vibrant future, it has to get Case over its vibrant past. for New At an age when schoolmates death by inbreeding, and to were captivated by Mickey expand the repertoires of major Mantle, Anthony Tommasini had orchestras to include the works a different idol: Giacomo Puccini. of the next generation of classical When he was 15, he would ride composers. And although he is too the train to Manhattan from his modest to count them as personal Long Island suburb to blissfully victories, his commentaries have endure the vertigo of the fifth contributed to a rejuvenation of balcony of the Metropolitan Opera the New York Philharmonic under House. There, he soaked up the the direction of the young Alan exhortations of a pining Tosca and Gilbert and what appears to be a the arias of a lovesick Madame promising revival of the moribund Butterfly. From then until now, New York City Opera. when he occupies a seat in the He has also been a weighty orchestra, the chief classical music supporter of boundary-pushing critic of the New York Times has artists like Norwegian pianist been consumed by music. Leif Ove Andsnes, Los Angeles At 62, Tommasini is a bespec ta- composer Stephen Hartke, and cled, reserved man whose solemn, composer and 2009 Pulitzer almost hangdog demeanor is a finalist Harold Meltzer. When counterpoint to the outsized per- George Steel, a relative newcomer sonalities of many of the divas he to opera, was hired two years ago writes about. In his perch as one as general manager and artistic of the most influential classical director of the New York City music critics in the world, Tomma- Opera, Tommasini applauded what sini treads respectfully—he is, after others saw as a risky move. Now, all, covering the Metropol itan the company is inarguably on the Opera for its loftiest patron as upswing. well as the wide-eyed novice. Born to musically indifferent If Tommasini has an agenda, parents, Tommasini (CFA’82) as it is to save classical music from a preschooler incessantly picked 22 BOSTONIA Winter–Spring 2011 PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOSHUA PAUL 222-512-51 BBostoniaWinter11_03.inddostoniaWinter11_03.indd 2222 22/4/11/4/11 22:15:15 PPMM Anthony Tommasini at the piano at his Central Park West apartment. Winter–Spring 2011 BOSTONIA 23 222-512-51 BBostoniaWinter11_03.inddostoniaWinter11_03.indd 2323 22/4/11/4/11 22:15:15 PPMM “In a phrase, his writing is keen and kind.” On Alan Gilbert, the new, On “the dearth of divas” On Joan Sutherland’s On Luciano Pavarotti young conductor of the (New York Times, bearing (New York Times, (New York Times, New York Philharmonic October 22, 2006): October 11, 2010): September 6, 2007): (New York Times, “Again, I welcome the broad- “At 5 foot 9, she was a large “For intelligence, discipline, September 9, 2007): er repertory and new com- woman, with long arms and breadth of repertory, musi- “My advice to him is to relax mitment to presenting opera large hands, and a long, cianship, interpretive depth, and enjoy himself. That Mr. as an adventurous genre wide face. As her renown and virile vocalism, Mr. Pa- Gilbert is an accomplished of musical drama, as in the increased, she insisted that varotti was outclassed by his and inquisitive musician Met’s new ‘Madama Butter- designers create costumes Three Tenors sidekick and without a trace of the impe- fly.’ Still, I count myself lucky for her that compensated chief rival, Placido Domingo. rious maestro makes him to have heard during my ado- for her figure, which, as she But for sheer Italianate teno- a refreshing choice for the lescence and early twenties admitted self-deprecatingly rial beauty, Mr. Pavarotti Philharmonic.” some of the legendary practi- in countless interviews, was was hard to top. That was tioners of that great tradition somewhat flat in the bust but certainly the position of his when it was still going strong. wide in the rib cage.” longtime manager, Herbert When you heard Tebaldi as Breslin, who combined his Mimi…Ms. Price as Aida or own promotional savvy with Joan Sutherland as Lucia di his chief client’s vocal great- Lammermoor, who even no- ness to produce the money- ticed the production?” making phenomenon that was Mr. Pavarotti’s career. LUONG THAI LINH/EPA/CORBIS LUONG CORBIS Call it Pavarotti, Inc.” out tunes on a toy keyboard, “like African American soprano to conquer 33 years as the Boston Globe’s classical Schroeder,” he recalls. After he per- the opera stage. music critic. suaded his parents to buy an actual He joined the Times staff in 1996 His long friendship with Dyer began piano, he attracted attention not and was named chief classical music in December 1986, when the Globe only for his playing—at 16 he won a critic in 2000. Today, his essays, mus- critic asked the young freelancer, who competition performing a Mozart ings, and often-pointed but never acer- had contributed a few pieces to the concerto at Manhattan’s Town Hall— bic criticism have earned him free rein paper, if he would be willing to drive to but also for his unbounded appetite at the million-plus circulation paper, a Worcester on New Year’s Eve to cover for musical knowledge. commentary and video blog, and a vast, a Pavarotti concert that was a recap of “I figured out a lot of things on my mostly appreciative readership. one Dyer had already written about. own,” says Tommasini, sipping tea Tommasini—Tony to his friends— “He’d been well trained as a musi- in the 14th-floor Central Park West is no snob. Winner of the School of cian,” says Dyer. “He really did know apartment he shares with his long- Music’s 1998 Distinguished Alumni what he was hearing. As my predeces- time partner, psychiatrist Benjamin Award, he is as likely to wax poetic sor, Michael Steinberg, once said, ‘I McCommon. “A grammar school over Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls as was interested in people who shared teacher who was a big opera buff gave he is over Christoph Willibald Gluck’s my standards, but not my taste.’” me some advice, but part of it was just Alceste. To the occasional grumblings Tommasini brought a fresh outlook; luck.” That luck still astounds him. of insular opera aficionados (“…the he was interested in new music and He lost his opera virginity, one might narrow limits of Tommasini’s per- over time, says Dyer, “he became more say, with Lucia in Gaetano Donizetti’s sonal aesthetic seem to constrain widely and profoundly educated.” tragic Lucia di Lammermoor, sung by his appreciation of large segments of After contributing for almost a world-renowned Australian soprano the wide world of opera,” sniffs one decade to the Globe, Tommasini de- Joan Sutherland, whose obituary blogger), Tommasini is committed, cided his apprenticeship was over. he would write for the Times more he says, to writing reviews that speak “I wanted a job,” he says. “But there than four decades later. His first to both specialists and novices. “I’m was no job.” Turandot in the Puccini classic was the a generalist, in the very best sense of His partner was about to attend celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano the word.” medical school in New York, and a Birgit Nilsson. And the starstruck His mentors include composer friend suggested that Tommasini teen’s introduction to what would be Virgil Thomson, the New York Herald come to New York and be a freelancer. a lifelong procession of Aidas was the Tribune music critic from 1940 to 1954, “I did,” he says, and wrote for several remarkable Leontyne Price, the first and Richard Dyer, now retired after publications until the Times offered 24 BOSTONIA Winter–Spring 2011 222-512-51 BBostoniaWinter11_03.inddostoniaWinter11_03.indd 2424 22/4/11/4/11 22:16:16 PPMM essays, is a portrait gallery of friends lost to AIDS. Those early, cruel years of the HIV epidemic still resonate with Tommasini and have infused him with an ever-percolating gratitude for his professional accomplishments and good fortune, the surprise of rich new musical works, and the companionship of the man he loves. Born in Brooklyn, Tommasini grew up in a family of five in Malverne, N.Y., where his first exposure to live music was a production of the 1956 Harold Karr musical Happy Hunting, starring Ethel Merman. Later he would take his parents to concerts, but for years him a contract, which led to a staff wrote in the Times’ Critic’s Notebook his classical fix came largely from an position and culminated in his in 2002. “It’s essential for those who unwieldy collection of records, which promotion to chief classical music want this art form to have a future in those days, he recalls, cost no more critic in 2000. as well as a history to encourage new than $3. “In seventh grade I went to work and cajole ensembles, orchestras, St. Paul’s, a small, all-male private ROCK OR CLASSICAL? and opera companies into supporting school in Garden City, where I was the A fixture on behalf of the Times at the living composers. Yet such calls are not music,” he says. He taught himself to Bayreuth Festival and other long- meant as a criticism of the standard play the organ he alone commanded esteemed classical showcases, Tom- repertory. These works have survived every morning at chapel. “I liked being masini is equally attentive to new, for a reason.
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