Biography

Alex Ross has been the music critic of The New Yorker since 1996. From 1992 to 1996 he wrote for the New York Times. His first book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, was published in 2007 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and became a national bestseller. It won a National Book Critics Circle Award, the Guardian First Book Award, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Creative Communication Award; appeared on the New York Times's list of the ten best books of 2007; and was a finalist for the Pulitzer and the Samuel Johnson prizes. Ross has received a Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center, fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin and the Banff Centre, three ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards, and a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. In 2008 he served as a McGraw Professor in Writing at Princeton University, and in 2009 he received an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. A native of Washington, DC, he now lives in Manhattan. In 2005 he married the actor and filmmaker Jonathan Lisecki.

Contact: Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 4 Times Square, NY NY 10036. Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 18 West 18th Street, NY NY 10011; fsgpublicity [at] fsgbooks.com. Literary agent: Tina Bennett, Janklow & Nesbit. Lecture agent: Bruce Miller, Washington Square Arts, 310 Bowery, 2nd Floor, NY NY  10012; 212-253-0333; bmiller [at] washingtonsquarearts.com (inquiries regarding speaking engagements only, please). New Yorker listings: If you wish to have a concert listed in the New Yorker's Goings On About Town, please send the information at least three weeks in advance to Russell Platt, The New Yorker, 4 Times Square, New York NY, 10036. Reprints: New Yorker articles become available for reprint sixty days after the date of publication. Write to me at The New Yorker, 4 Times Square, New York NY, 10036 for permission. There is no need to request permission to photocopy articles for academic courses.

Photo credit: David Michalek.