ANNE MIDGETTE

My Nine Lives is a powerful and stirring memoir of one of the greatest pianists of the postwar era&mdashan inspiring tale of courage, compassion, and triumph over outstanding odds. At the peak of his career, celebrated pianist Leon Fleisher suddenly lost the use of two fingers on his right hand. Miraculously, at the age of sixty-six, he was diagnosed with focal dystonia, and learned to manage it through a combination of physical therapy and experimental Botox injections. In 2003 Fleisher returned to Carnegie Hall to give his first two-handed performance in over three decades and brought down the house. With his coauthor, celebrated music critic Anne Midgette, Fleisher reveals here for the first time the depression that threatened to engulf him as his condition worsened, and the sheer love of music that rescued him from complete self-destruction.

In 1967, Luciano Pavarotti was an up-and-coming young tenor with a voice far more impressive than his stage technique or presence. So Decca, his record company, told him, 'Luciano, you're a real nice guy. So you need a real bastard to do your publicity.' Enter Herbert Breslin. The two of them hit it off right away and thus began a professional association and a friendship that lasted over 36 years. The King and I is the story of that relationship, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, 'the greatest career in classical music', moving Pavarotti out of the opera house and onto the concert (and world) stage, and into the arms of a huge mass public. How he and Pavarotti changed the landscape of opera is one of the most significant and entertaining stories in the history of classical music. Herbert Breslin relates this story in a candid, take-no-prisoners, witty fashion that is often hysterically frank and profane. Read about how Pavarotti transported a whole restaurant to China as he was worried that he wouldn't like the food, and learn about the succession of 'secretaries' which eventually led to the breakdown of his first marriage. He also provides a portrait of his