From ear to ear : a pianist's love affair with song / Steven Blier ; foreword by Adam Gopnik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blier, Steven, Author.

Contributor:

Gopnik, Adam, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Blier, Steven.

Pianists--United States--Biography.

Pianists.

Muscular dystrophy--Patients.

United States.

Genre:

Autobiographies

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 264 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, [2025]

Summary:

"While other kids were enjoying the head-bashing pleasures of tackle football, a freshly bar mitzvahed Steven Blier was inhaling operas and getting his first taste of accompanying professional singers. From Ear to Ear recounts his picaresque and unfailingly entertaining road to a successful career as a collaborative pianist, bringing to life his partnerships with iconic performers like Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Jessye Norman, Cecilia Bartoli, and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and beloved mentors, including Alvin Epstein and Martha Schlamme. Drawing on his innovative work as a vocal coach and concert producer with his acclaimed New York Festival of Song, he takes readers deep into his artistic process. But Blier also tells a parallel story: his lifelong battle with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Aided by his intense determination, as well as his wry sense of humor, Blier continues his life at the piano. As Adam Gopnik writes in his foreword, From Ear to Ear is "genuinely heroic, a testament to the power of music.""-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Iolanthe

I Did It Sideways

Alan and Martha

University Without Walls

Mentors and Tormentors

No Career in Song

A New Path Opens

The History of My Legs

Halfway Up Mount Rushmore

Lorraine

How the Sausage Gets Made

Scheherazade Had It Right

Arms and the Man

Across a Crowded Room

Iolanthe

Finding Aid/Index:

Includes index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781324005483

1324005483

OCLC:

1490365495

Publisher Number:

CIPO000291923