Zach Carstensen is a Chicago-based freelance music critic specializing in classical music and opera. For two decades, he called Seattle home, where his writing appeared in publications like The Seattle Times, City Arts, Sound Magazine, and the River Cities Reader. He now contributes regularly to Seen and Heard International, offering insights on performances and artists.
In 2007, he founded The Gathering Note—a blog that once served as the Puget Sound’s go-to source for music coverage (with occasional Chicago dispatches). These days, the site hosts a mix of cross-posted articles and Zach’s own musings, ranging from thoughtful critiques to the delightfully offbeat.
For Inquiries: gatheringnoteblog@gmail.com
Bluesky: @zachcarstensen
Threads: @zachcarstensen
Medium: @zachcarstensen
Twitter/X: @zachcarstensen
Gathering Note 