David Hurwitz (born 29 August 1961) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Based in New York, he is the founder and executive editor of ClassicsToday.com and frequently reviews recordings there. Hurwitz has published numerous books, primarily guides on specific composers for the Amadeus Press "Unlocking the Masters" series, namely, Mahler, Mozart, Dvořák, Haydn, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Bernstein, Strauss, C. P. E. Bach and Handel. Other publications include an introduction to classical music, two articles on the 19th-century use of vibrato as well as surveys on the symphonies of Beethoven (the 5th and 7th) and Brahms (all four). He was the chairman for the Cannes Classical Awards while it existed from 1994 to 2010. Life and career David Hurwitz was born on 29 August 1961, in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. Raised in Connecticut, Hurwitz attended Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University, receiving graduate degrees in Modern European History from both. He has, at various times, studied piano, clarinet, viola, and percussion. With latter in particular, he was an orchestral percussionist, with performing credits that include "all of [Mahler's] symphonies except for the Eighth". He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Hurwitz is the founder and executive editor of ClassicsToday.com, a daily review site for classical music recordings. In addition to a written review, the site gives each recording two rankings from 1–10 in "Artistic Quality" and "Sound Quality; a 1 is defined as "unacceptable, no redeeming qualities", while a 10 represents "superior, qualities of unusual merit". Apart from frequent contributions on ClassicsToday.com, Hurwitz has published articles in CD Review, Classical Pulse!, High Fidelity, In Tune Monthly, Musical America, Opus, Stereo Review, The New York Observer, among other magazines. He was the chairman and founder of the Cannes Classical Awards (CCA), awarded at the Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale by a multinational jury of critics from around the world. The CCA existed from 1994 to 2010, until it was replaced by the Midem Classical Awards and presently, the International Classical Music Awards; Hurwitz left after 2010. His publications include several books designed to acquaint the casual listener with classical music, the earliest being the 1992 Beethoven or Bust: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Listening to Great Music. Later books include various volumes for the "Unlocking the Masters" series of the Amadeus Press (part of Rowman & Littlefield). These contributions were Volume 2, on