Death of the world’s longest serving music critic, 87

Death of the world’s longest serving music critic, 87

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norman lebrecht

December 30, 2018

The French-Canadian music critic Claude Gingras died this morning in a Montreal hospital.

He was critic of La Presse for 63 years, retiring in December 2015.

Has anyone done the job longer?

One of the first to spot the talent of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, he was not always gentle. ‘People believe that Claude Gingras had nothing but praise for me,’ said Yannick. ‘This is not true. I went from hell to limbo, to heaven with him. He called me a big teddy bear with a stomach ache.’

 

 

Comments

  • Mario R. Lutz says:

    approaching, still active since 53 years as musical critic, I know Mr. Pablo L. Bardin, founder of “Tribuna Musical” Magazine, actually a blog http://www.tribunamusical.com.ar/
    and several radio and TV programes now relegated by the deculturation process in Argentina, like the first English newspaper, “Buenos Aires Herald” in where he also wrote. Perhaps the best description of our days came from the Washington Post “An Italian car of a country, Argentina looks great but just doesn’t work”

  • Mario says:

    In Colombia Manuel Drezner has been writing in El Espectador music criticism since 1949

  • Judith Despaties says:

    Recognized for his sometimes caustic criticism and most discerning concert reviews, Claude Gingras was omnipresent in Montreal’s cultural scene until about 2010, and we miss him. He was instrumental in inspiring the public’s musical culture, expectations, and raising the quality of musical performance in our city.

  • Judith Despaties says:

    Recognized for his sometimes caustic criticism and most discerning concert reviews, Claude Gingras was omnipresent in Montreal’s cultural scene until about 2010, and we miss him. He was instrumental in inspiring the public’s musical culture, expectations, and raising the quality of musical performance.

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