Richard Morrison

Who is Richard Morrison?

Richard Morrison is an English music critic. As the chief music critic of The Times, he writes a wide-ranging cultural column which appears on Fridays. He also writes for the monthly publication BBC Music Magazine for which he won an award as columnist of the year.

Morrison studied music at Cambridge University. While he is better known as a writer than a performer, he continues to perform music despite cycling injuries. He is organist of St Mary's, Hendon.

In 2014 he was one of a number of British critics accused of sexism in respect of their reviews of the mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, who was singing the title role in a new production of Der Rosenkavalier. Morrison, who described Erraught's portrayal of Octavian as "unsightly and unappealing,” apologized by saying, “Several musicians I count as close friends tell me that what I wrote would have upset greatly the promising young singer who took the role of Octavian. I regret that.”