Smith, Patrick J(ohn)

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Smith, Patrick J(ohn)

Smith, Patrick J(ohn) , American music critic, author, and editor; b. N.Y, Dec. 11, 1932. He was educated at Princeton Univ. (A.B., 1955). He then pursued a career as a music critic, contributing articles to High Fidelity, Musical America, Musical Quarterly, and the Musical Times. From 1965 to 1985 he was book ed. of Musical America; also served as N.Y. music correspondent to the Times of London. He was president of the Music Critics Assn. (1977–81); was director of the Opera-Musical Theater Program of the NEA (from 1985). From 1988 to 1998 he was ed.-in-chief of Opera News, then ed.-at-large. He publ. The Tenth Muse, A Historical Study of the Opera Libretto (N.Y., 1970) and A Year at the Met (N.Y., 1983).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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