Biographical Note
Albert Goldberg was born on June 2, 1898, in Shenandoah, Iowa. He studied piano from an early age, then attended the University of Nebraska (1915-1916) and the Chicago Music College (1920-1922). He earned his masters degree in music from the Gunn School of Music in 1923 where he served as an assistant to Glenn Dillard Gunn.
Goldberg then began his career in music review and criticism, first at the Chicago Herald and Examiner from 1925 to 1936. In 1935, he became the Illinois State Director of the Federal Music Project in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and served in that role until the program ended in 1943. It was during this time that Goldberg co-conducted the federally sponsored Illinois Symphony with Izler Solomon. The 90-member orchestra performed at Chicago`s Great Northern Theatre and gave the first local performances of approximately 150 works.
Goldberg then resumed his music criticism career, writing for the Chicago Tribune (1943-1947) and then the Los Angeles Times (1947-1965), where he was considered the first of the serious musical commentators in Los Angeles. He also lectured in the music department at UCLA from 1948 until the mid 1950s. In addition to his music reviews, Goldberg wrote the weekly column "The Sounding Board" in the Los Angeles Times. Though he nominally retired in 1965, he continued to write for various publications, including Musical America and Musical Digest until just three months before his passing on February 4, 1990.