Alex Ross has been the music critic of The New Yorker since 1996. His first book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, published in 2007, won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Guardian First Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. An essay collection, Listen to This, appeared in 2010. His third book, Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music, was published in 2020; the German edition, from Rowohlt, is titled Die Welt nach Wagner. Ross has received the George Peabody Medal, the Belmont Prize, an Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship.
Music Critic
The New Yorker
Meet Alex Ross
A short portrait filmed at the Hans Arnhold Center, introducing the work and ideas behind this semester in Berlin.
Upcoming events
Discover what’s coming up in the Academy’s public program this semester.
Past events
Lectures, readings, and conversations from the Academy’s public program.
Past event
Wagner and His Aftermath
Alex Ross examines “Wagnerism” and how to deal with problematic art.
19 Apr 2021
Berlin Journal Articles
Essays, interviews, and creative work published in the Academy’s annual magazine.
Books
Books written by fellows of the Academy, many begun during a semester in Berlin.
Explore Past Distinguished Visitors
Jill Abramson
Former Executive Editor, The New York Times; Senior Lecturer, Harvard University
Mahnaz Afkhami
Founder and President, Women’s Learning Partnership
Liaquat Ahamed
Author and Investment Manager, Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited
Doug Aitken
Artist, California