Honored by the Queen in his native England and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his adopted USA, composer of over 200 musical works and author of four books, Ronald Senator, now an octogenarian, reflects on his rich life of the last quarter century. He recalls worldwide performances of his music by star performers, his meeting and befriending of numerous celebrities from Presidents to astronauts, and his witnessing some crucial events of the 20th century in Russia, Czechoslovakia, New York, Rome, Israel, or Hong Kong. ...
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Honored by the Queen in his native England and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his adopted USA, composer of over 200 musical works and author of four books, Ronald Senator, now an octogenarian, reflects on his rich life of the last quarter century. He recalls worldwide performances of his music by star performers, his meeting and befriending of numerous celebrities from Presidents to astronauts, and his witnessing some crucial events of the 20th century in Russia, Czechoslovakia, New York, Rome, Israel, or Hong Kong. This book is a sequel to his "Requiem Letters" which was acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic as a "deeply moving and haunting autobiographical memoir" [US Publishers Weekly] or as "astounding and wonderful" [London Spectator]. Among others, Ronald Senator writes about his meetings and friendships with President Vaclav Havel, Mayor Teddy Kollek; the astronauts John Glenn and Russell Schweikart; the writers Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Durrell, Kingsley Amis, Bill Bryson, Geoffrey Archer, Anthony Burgess, Peter Porter, Alex Comfort, Yevtuchenko; the artists Lucian Freud, Paul Nash, Mervyn Peake, Michael Ayrton, Eric Gill, Oscar Nemon, Al Hirschfield; the musicians and composers Shostakovich, Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett, Constant Lambert, Malcolm Williamson, Willard White, Regina Resnick, Jacqueline Dupre: the directors, actors and actresses Peter Brook, Kenneth Tynan, Tom Stoppard, David Greene, Lynn Redgrave, Ron Silver, Joan Greenwood. Ronald Senator is described as "a composer of great stature" (New York Times) and the composer of "superb music, [which] warrants comparison with Shostakovich, just as compelling" (American Record Guide). Concerts devoted entirely to his music have been given in New York, London, Sydney, Moscow, St. Petersburg. His second wife is the American pianist Miriam Brickman: this book is subtitled "A Letter to Miriam.""
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