Zachary Woolfe

Zachary Woolfe is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Since 2022 he has been chief classical music critic for The New York Times.

Education and career
Woolfe studied at Princeton University. Although he "had written a little bit for newspapers in college", he had not anticipated a career in journalism. In 2008, however, a friend at The New York Observer asked Woolfe to assist in coverage of the 2008 US Open tennis tournament. After additional writing for the paper, Woolfe was offered a regular column in 2009, devoted to opera.

In 2011 Woolfe started working as a freelance music critic for The New York Times, reporting on opera festivals in the US and internationally. In 2015 he became classical music editor, before being appointed as chief classical music critic in 2022.