Mark Swed (bornc. 1945) is an Americanmusic critic who specializes inclassical music.^[1] Since 1996 he has been thechief classical music critic of theLos Angeles Times where his writings have made him a two-time finalist for thePulitzer Prize for Criticism. Prior to hisLA Times post, Swed was the chief music critic for theLos Angeles Herald Examiner andThe Wall Street Journal, and has contributed other writings to a variety of publications includingThe Orchestra, aniPadapplication. He has a particular interest incontemporary classical music.

Mark Swed was bornc. 1945 and attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley, receiving aBachelor of Arts in music, andMills College, receiving aMaster of Arts.^[1] He was chief music critic at numerous newspapers, including theLos Angeles Herald Examiner,The Wall Street Journal and7 Days.^[1] In addition, he has written othermusic criticism for a variety of publications,^[2] includingBBC Music,Gramophone,Musical America,Opera News,Schwann-Opus,Stagebill,The Economist,The New York Times andThe New Yorker.^[3] Interested incontemporary classical music early on, Swed edited the20th-century classical music section ofThe Musical Quarterly from 1992 to 2000.^[1] He wrote substantial commentary—described byGrove Music Online as a "book-length text"—forThe Orchestra,^[2] a well-receivediPadapplication that featuredEsa-Pekka Salonen and thePhilharmonia Orchestra with autoscrolling and interactivesheet music to numerous orchestral works.^[4] He often makes appearances onKCRW, anNPR radio station ofSanta Monica College.^[1] Since 1996, he has been thechief classical music critic of theLos Angeles Times,^[2] succeedingMartin Bernheimer.^[5] Swed is currently engaged in writing a biography of the American composerJohn Cage.^[3]

The recipient of numerous awards, Swed received the 1994ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, as well as a Letter of Distinction from theAmerican Music Center.^[1] The Los Angeles Music Center and the Los Angeles Press Club have also recognized his work.^[3] He has been a finalist for thePulitzer Prize for Criticism twice, in 2007 and 2021.^[2] The 2007 nomination is described as being "For his passionate music criticism, marked by resonant writing and an ability to give life to the people behind a performance".^[6] For his 2021 nomination, the nomination was "for a series of critical essays that broke through the silence of the pandemic to recommend an eclectic array of recordings as entertainment and solace essential to the moment, drawing deep connections to seven centuries of classical music".^[7] He is a fellow at The Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences of theUniversity of Southern California.^[3]

• Swed, Mark (1989).Celebrating Twenty Five years 1964–1989. Los Angeles: Music Center of Los Angeles County.OCLC 25427375.

• Swed, Mark (October 1988). "John Cage: A Celebration".The Musical Times.129 (1748):516–518.doi:10.2307/966687.JSTOR 966687.
• —— (November 1988). "Philip Glass's Operas".The Musical Times.129 (1749):577–579.doi:10.2307/966783.JSTOR 966783.
• —— (June 1989). "Schnabel the Composer".The Musical Times.130 (1756):332–335.doi:10.2307/966028.JSTOR 966028.
• —— (November 1989). "John Adams".The Musical Times.130 (1761):662–664.doi:10.2307/1193777.JSTOR 1193777.
• —— (Spring 1993). "John Cage: September 5, 1912-August 12, 1992".The Musical Quarterly.77 (1):132–144.doi:10.1093/mq/77.1.132.JSTOR 742432.
• —— (Summer 1993). "Editor's Note to Philip Glass's "Akhnaten"".The Musical Quarterly.77 (2):236–240.doi:10.1093/mq/77.2.236.JSTOR 742556.
• —— (Spring 1994)."Editor's Introduction to "Synergetic Dynamics in John Cage's "Europeras 1 & 2""".The Musical Quarterly.78 (1):127–130.doi:10.1093/mq/78.1.127.JSTOR 742496.
• —— (Summer 1994). "Editor's Introduction".The Musical Quarterly.78 (2):288–289.doi:10.1093/mq/78.2.288.JSTOR 742544.
• —— (Summer 1995). "Editor's Introduction".The Musical Quarterly.79 (2):309–311.doi:10.1093/mq/79.2.309.JSTOR 742248.
• —— (Spring 1996). "Remembering "Modern Music"".The Musical Quarterly.80 (1):58–60.doi:10.1093/mq/80.1.58.JSTOR 742528.
• —— (18 November 2020)."Philip Glass and 'Einstein on the Beach': How one opera changed everything".Los Angeles Times.
• —— (8 February 2022)."Appreciation: How George Crumb became one of America's most surprisingly consequential composers".Los Angeles Times.

• Articles by Mark Swed in theLos Angeles Times
• Mark Swed onTwitter

• 1945 births
• Living people
• American classical music critics
• Los Angeles Times people
• University of California, Berkeley alumni
• Cage scholars
• Los Angeles Herald Examiner people
• The Wall Street Journal people
• 20th-century American journalists
• 20th-century American male writers
• 21st-century American journalists
• 21st-century American male writers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2021
• Articles with hCards