Peter G. Davis

Peter Graffam Davis (March 3, 1936 – February 13, 2021) was an American opera and classical music critic. He was the classical music critic for the magazine New York from 1980 until 2007. He also wrote for The New York Times, Musical America, and Opera News among other publications. He previously worked for The New York Times and authored the book, The American Opera Singer.

Early life Davis was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on March 3, 1936.

Davis studied music at Harvard College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1958. Several months before his third year, he did a tour of the summer music festivals in Europe. He subsequently spent one year at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik, There, he studied under Jack Beeson and Otto Luening, and earned a master's degree in composition in 1962.

Career Davis first worked as a music critic for The New York Times in 1967. He started off authoring freelance articles, before becoming the paper's Sunday music editor seven years later. This enabled him to commission other writers for articles, in addition to his everyday reviews of recordings, concerts, and first recitals. He subsequently became critic for New York magazine in 1981. He critiqued all genres of classical music; his specialty and passion lay with opera and vocal music. He was also noted for writing disapprovingly of up-and-coming music and composers who he believed were overrated, such as Philip Glass and Beverly Sills. The magazine decided to abolish the full-time position of classical music critic. Davis stated that this was "euphemistic for being fired", Consequently, he returned to The New York Times as a freelancer and was a regular contributor to Opera News and Musical America.