An exuberant, accessible, beautifully illustrated look at the art and craft of conducting, from one of our most celebrated conductors.

John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in this hugely informative, consistently entertaining exploration of his profession, rich with anecdotes from decades of working alongside some of the greatest names in the music world. With candor and humor, Mauceri makes clear that conducting is itself a composition- of legacy and tradition, techniques handed down from master to apprentice-and more than a trace of ineffable magic. He reveals how conductors approach a piece of music (a calculated combination of personal interpretation, imagination, and insight into the composer’s intent); what it takes to communicate solely through gesture, with sometimes hundreds of performers at once; and the occasionally glamorous, often challenging life of the itinerant maestro. Mauceri, who worked closely with Leonard Bernstein for eighteen years, studied with Leopold Stokowski, and was on the faculty of Yale University for fifteen years, is the perfect guide to the allure and theater, passion and drudgery, rivalries and relationships of the conducting life.