John Rockwell
Keynote address: Saturday, January 21 at 2:15 pm
"Nostalgia from a World in which Print was King and Critics were Oracular Pontificators Whom Everyone Else Followed like Sheep"
John Rockwell is a writer and arts critic. A longtime employee of the New York Times, he served as classical music critic, reporter and editor; chief rock critic; European cultural correspondent; editor of the Sunday Arts & Leisure section; arts columnist; and chief dance critic.
In 1994, he founded and directed the Lincoln Center Festival for its first four years. It is an annual international performing arts event. A prolific freelance writer throughout his career, Rockwell has published books on American musical composition, singer-actor Frank Sinatra, film director Lars von Trier, as well as a compilation. He is working on another book about the Magic Flute. Rockwell is board chair of the National Arts Journalism Program.