Joshua Chong
Joshua Chong covers the performing arts as an arts critic and reporter at the Toronto Star, focusing on theatre, opera and classical music and how they shape the wider cultural landscape. His work sits at the intersection of criticism and reporting, moving between reviews, awards coverage and news features that track what is happening on stage and inside the institutions that support it. He writes with an eye to both artistic merit and industry context, making major productions, honours and sector shifts legible to a broad audience.
Performing arts criticism anchored in theatre
Chong’s day-to-day coverage centres on theatre, with a particular focus on the productions, companies and artists driving the contemporary stage. In his reporting on the Dora Awards, which spotlight Toronto’s top theatre honours, he breaks down which shows and creative teams “won big” and why their work stands out, giving readers a clear sense of the season’s defining performances rather than just listing winners. Across similar pieces, he uses awards and milestones as a lens to survey the health of the local theatre ecosystem, highlighting trends such as the rise of new work, the prominence of particular venues and the recognition of emerging companies. His criticism in this space tends to balance plot and performance notes with discussion of form, direction and design, situating individual shows inside broader conversations about the performing arts.
Opera and classical music as core music beat
Music, especially opera and classical repertoire, is another core strand of Chong’s beat. He identifies these genres as central to his work, and his coverage reflects that by following major productions, concert programs and seasons mounted by opera companies and orchestras. When he writes about opera or symphonic performances, he treats them as living, evolving art forms rather than museum pieces, paying attention to programming choices, casting, interpretations and the way these decisions speak to contemporary audiences. His pieces often consider how classical music institutions balance tradition with experimentation, and how musicians and ensembles are trying to broaden their reach beyond established audiences. This focus makes him a natural contact for stories that sit at the intersection of music, performance and cultural policy, where artistic decisions have implications for accessibility, diversity and institutional relevance.
Cultural institutions, individuals and sector dynamics
Beyond individual shows, Chong spends considerable time on the institutions and people who shape the performing arts sector. He profiles cultural organizations and key figures in theatre, opera and classical music, showing how programmers, artistic directors, performers and administrators influence what ends up on stage. His reporting looks at how these institutions respond to financial pressures, audience shifts and changing expectations around equity and representation, treating the arts not only as entertainment but as part of a larger civic and cultural infrastructure. By covering both headline-grabbing events and the quieter decisions behind the scenes, he offers a rounded picture of how the performing arts ecosystem functions and how it is changing.
Critical voice and recognition
Chong writes with a clear, measured critical voice that privileges evidence and concrete detail over hype, whether he is assessing a new production or explaining the significance of an awards slate. He is comfortable drawing on historical and stylistic context when evaluating work, but he keeps his prose accessible, avoiding jargon so that non-specialist readers can follow his arguments. His approach to criticism has been recognized with honours such as the Nathan Cohen Award for critical excellence, underscoring his standing as a thoughtful and rigorous voice in arts journalism. For sources, this combination of critical authority and straightforward explanation means pitches that offer substantive artistic or institutional angles are more likely to align with his interests than purely promotional stories, especially when they engage directly with theatre, opera or classical music.
4 more music journalists.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling Murphy is the theatre reporter and critic at The Globe and Mail. She stands out for writing about theatre as both art and infrastructure, with coverage that links new Canadian stage work, awards culture, and pop-inflected criticism. She covers theatre, music, and pop culture in a detailed, conversational style, moving between reviews, reported features, and analysis of the systems that shape what gets produced. Her beat includes the Dora Awards, Toronto stages, new writing, intimate productions, and smaller venues, as well as controversy where artistic decisions meet politics and community response. Before The Globe, she was senior editor of Intermission Magazine, and her bylines include The New York Times, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, and the Baltimore Sun.
Alex Hudson
Alex Hudson is Editor-in-Chief of Exclaim! and leads coverage of music’s links to sports, literature, and technology, with a strong focus on Canadian artists. Hudson reports on how music intersects with other fields, not as a separate industry. Recent coverage has included Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer on how playing piano saved his career, Ottawa Bluesfest’s Canada-wide soccer watch party, Lakes of Canada’s Margaret Atwood-inspired album Transgressions, Hannah Mary McKinnon on The Beaches influencing her rock-themed novel, and Alexander Nilsson’s 1001 Albums Generator as a tool for broadening music discovery beyond algorithmic recommendations.
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz is a commerce writer whose distinct focus is the buying and streaming side of music, entertainment and lifestyle, helping readers decide how to watch major events and what to purchase around them. She is an e-commerce specialist at Rolling Stone, covering products, platforms and deals tied to award shows, festivals, sports and everyday culture. Her beat blends music streaming guides with shopping and product recommendations across fashion, beauty, tech, food, wellness and drinks. She reports through experience-focused service journalism, using lists, comparison roundups and step-by-step guides to answer concrete questions about how to stream major cultural moments, where to shop and which products to choose. Her background includes commerce and lifestyle writing for consumer publications such as Esquire, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Women’s Wear Daily and Billboard.
Allie Gregory
Allie Gregory maps how audiences encounter new music by tracking the practical pathways of releases, tours, festivals, platforms and projects. She is a managing editor and news writer at Exclaim!, where she is a primary editorial contact for forthcoming releases and news tips and helps shape the outlet’s daily agenda around new music and its broader entertainment context. Her reporting centres on timely album and tour announcements, live logistics and festival programming across indie, metal, country, pop and adjacent film and streaming news. She writes direct, information-heavy pieces that foreground calendars, support acts, set times and programming structures, while also producing longer-form interviews, cultural stories and staff-pick recommendations that connect artists’ work, controversy and creative campaigns to how audiences encounter music and entertainment on the road, at festivals and on screens.