Midgette, Anne

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Midgette, Anne

PERSONAL: Married Greg Sandow (a composer and writer).

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Office—New York Times, 229 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 10036.

CAREER: Journalist and author of nonfiction. New York Times, New York, NY, classical music reviewer.

WRITINGS:

Bavaria (guidebook), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1994.

(With Herbert H. Breslin) The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend, and Sometime Adversary, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and Opera News.

SIDELIGHTS: Writer and music critic Anne Midgette works both as a freelance writer and as a reviewer for the New York Times. Over the course of her career, she has spent eleven years living in Munich, Germany, working as a reviewer of European music and writing travel guidebooks prior to returning to New York City. Her husband, Greg Sandow, is a composer and music critic, and the two have been known to collaborate on reviews.

Midgette co-wrote The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend, and Sometime Adversary with Herbert H. Breslin, the publicist and manager referenced in the title. The volume goes behind the scenes of Pavarotti's career from Breslin's viewpoint, recounting stories of flamboyant behavior and the effect of Pavarotti's success on other budding talent. Boston Globe contributor Richard Dyer called the book "intermittently sympathetic but seldom flattering," commenting that it is "entertaining and titillating, and Breslin is certainly a formidable personality. It's hard not to feel a sneaking admiration for a writer who doesn't care what you think of him." Sarah Bryan Miller, in a review for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, credited Midgette with making the book "a well-constructed and engaging—if thoroughly catty—read. Breslin (who like his former client has an ego big as all outdoors) dishes with a ladle and carves up Pavarotti and assorted other targets with weapons ranging from a scalpel to a rapier to a meat ax." In a review for Library Journal, Barry Zaslow referred to the transcript of an interview Pavarotti granted Midgette that appears at the end of the book and explained his point of view: "without this, he comes across as rather a monster." However, a contributor to Kirkus Reviews called the book "knowing, full of buzz about the world of classical music, and lots of operatic fun," and Alan Hirsch, in a piece for Booklist, said of the volume that "its stories of a star's rise and fall are told from the heart."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2004, Alan Hirsch, review of The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend, and Sometime Adversary, p. 293.

Boston Globe, January 20, 2005, Richard Dyer, "Unflattering Pavarotti Bio Hits More Low Notes than High Ones," p. C12.

Commentary, December, 2004, Terry Teachout, "After Pavarotti," pp. 61-63.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2004, review of The King and I, p. 784.

Library Journal, June 1, 2004, Barbara Hoffert, review of The King and I, p. 102; September 1, 2004, Barry Zaslow, review of The King and I, p. 152.

New York Times, December 12, 2004, Jane and Michael Stern, "A Fight at the Opera," p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, July 26, 2004, review of The King and I, p. 45.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 7, 2004, Sarah Bryan Miller, "Pavarotti's Glorious Voice Overshadowed by His Character Flaws," p. C6.

Washington Post Book World, October 17, 2004, Selwa Roosevelt, "A Night at the Opera," p. T4.