"My Nine Lives" makes an apt title for Leon Fleisher's just-published memoir, written with Washington Post music critic Anne Midgette.
The brilliant pianist's career took many a turn, especially after he lost the use of his right hand in 1965. The Baltimore-based Fleisher, now 82, built a formidable career as a left-hand keyboard artist, conductor and teacher.
In recent years, he managed to resume two-hand performs, thanks largely to Botox therapy, and that return was warmly celebrated throughout the music world.
Fleisher is a formidable force, shaped by a fascinating and eventful life that is recounted in the new book from Doubleday. In addition to all the expected biographical matters, the chapters are interspersed with Fleisher's extensive, compelling insights into piano works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Ravel.
Fleisher, a longtime faculty member at the Peabody Institute, will be joined by Midgette for a talk about the book at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Bank of America Lounge on the Peabody campus. A book-signing follows.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PEABODY INSTITUTE