Warrack, John (Hamilton) (1928– )

English writer on music and administrator, son of Guy Warrack. After studying oboe at the Royal College of Music, London he was assistant music critic of the Daily Telegraph from 1954 and of the Sunday Telegraph between 1961 and 1972. He has been a member of Opera magazine's editorial board from 1953 and a critic for The Gramophone from 1958. The author of well-received books on Tchaikovsky and Weber, he co-edited with Harold Rosenthal the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (1964, revised 1979) which was further revised as the Oxford Dictionary of Opera (1992; Concise version 1995). He was artistic director of the Leeds Festival between 1977 and 1983, and subsequently held a post as lecturer at Oxford University (1983–93).