Michael Shmith (born 7 July 1949) is an Australian journalist and writer.
Shmith is the son of Athol Shmith and his wife Patricia "Bambi" née Tuckwell (they later divorced).
Journalist, publicist
Shmith worked at
The Age newspaper in Melbourne from 1981 as a senior writer for
The Age and its arts editor from 1985 to 1993. In 1995, he became communications director for the Australian Ballet.
From 2010 to 2017 he was the paper's opera critic. He resigned from that position in August 2017 over a disagreement with
The Ages arts editor Hannah Francis about the paper's dwindling coverage of the arts.
[ "Why I quit as opera critic of The Age" by Michael Shmith, Australian Book Review, 14 August 2017. ] Since then, he writes reviews for the
Australian Book Review.
[ "Michael Shmith", Australian Book Review ]
Author
Shmith edited the 1999
Ebury Publishing edition of
The New Pocket Kobbé's Opera Book with his stepfather George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood.
Shmith's 2019 book,
Cranlana: The First 100 Years, described the garden and house of
Sidney Myer and
Merlyn Myer in
Toorak, Melbourne.
His biography of Merlyn Myer,
Merlyn, was published in 2021.
External links
