Martin Bernheimer

Martin Bernheimer (September 28, 1936 – September 29, 2019) was an American music critic. He studied at Brown University and the Hochschule für Musik in Munich as well as with the musicologist Gustave Reese at New York University.

His career writing about music began in New York, writing for the New York Herald Tribune, working as an assistant to Irving Kolodin at the Saturday Review, and landing the position of music critic at the New York Post. In 1965 he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as the chief music and dance critic for the Los Angeles Times. During his thirty years with that paper, he was twice the recipient of ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award (1974 and 1978) and in 1982 won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. From 1996 until his semi-retirement in 2017, Bernheimer's work appeared mainly in Opera magazine and the Financial Times. Bernheimer lectured frequently and provided commentary for opera broadcasts.

Berheimer had four children, who survived him. At the time of his death he was married to theatre critic Linda Winer.

He died on 20 September 2019, at the age of 83.

Sources

• Fischer, Heinz Dietrich and Fischer, Erika J. (eds.), "Bernheimer, Martin", Complete biographical encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize winners, 1917-2000, Walter de Gruyter, 2002, p. 20. ISBN 3-598-30186-3