Pincus (Tanglewood), a classical music critic for the Berkshire Eagle
in Pittsfield, Mass., and a two-time winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music criticism, profiles six names in the classical music world: cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Midori, singer Phyllis Curtin, the Juilliard String Quartet, composer Gunther Schuller and conductor Robert Spano. What they all have in common is their commitment to supporting and energizing American music culture, whether by introducing audiences to new repertoires or playing a role in education or advocacy. Phyllis Curtin, an American soprano and educator whose opera career was destroyed in the 1960s by an aggressively climbing juggernaut named Beverly Sills, inspired a generation of students to explore contemporary music and resist the increasing homogenization and professionalization of opera performance. Midori discusses the foundation she started to bring musicians to New York City public schools. Schuller, a horn player and maverick conductor as well as a composer, recalls a career spent championing little-known contemporary composers. Pincus has an eye for intimate detail, and though his profiles are focused on the subjects' careers, he manages to convey much about each musician's temperament and about the cloistered, gossipy classical music world with which he is affectionately obsessed. The portraits will please readers interested in classical music and are refreshingly optimistic in tone. Pincus's passion for the subject is contagious. (June 21)
