'Boston Globe' Names New Music, Theater Critics

By: E&P Staff The Boston Globe has appointed three staffers to its music and theater beats.

Jeremy Eichler is the Globe's new classical music critic. Formerly a classical music writer for The New York Times, Eichler, 31, has also penned music pieces for The New Republic, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Newsday, among others. Since 2004 he has taught at the NEA Arts Journalism Institute at Columbia University.

Eichler joins the Globe in September. He succeeds Richard Dyer, the Globe's critic for more than 25 years. Dyer was one of several arts writers who accepted buyout offers from the paper last fall. He will hand over the beat following the Boston Symphony's summer season.

Joining the staff much sooner is Sarah Rodman, 37, who starts her new position on Monday covering pop music. Rodman joins the staff from the Boston Herald, where since 2000 she has covered pop music and entertainment as a staff columnist.

Rodman follows Steve Morse, who after 31 years as the Globe's rock critic, accepted a buyout package last December.

Globe staff writer Louise Kennedy has been appointed the newspaper's new theater critic. Kennedy joined the Globe as a copy editor in 1988, and soon after writing her first theater review in 1992 she began reviewing plays.

She has since served as the Globe's assistant book editor, assistant Living/Arts editor, assistant magazine editor, food editor, home editor, and (since 2001) arts reporter.

Kennedy, 47, succeeds Ed Siegel on May 22.