John Georgiadis was leader (concertmaster) of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1979 which gave him the opportunity to work with many of the world's most celebrated conductors. In the mid '70s he decided to attempt a conducting career himself which, after eight years study with the legendary Sergiu Celibidache, took him all around the world working with various orchestras. The story follows John's life, starting with him learning to play the violin at the age of six, his student yers and throughout his professional life as both violinist and conductor up to the present day. -- page 4 of cover.
Aphrodite Wigglesmith is a thirteen-year-old prodigy. After a fast track through Harvard, she's back at her old middle school to teach remedial math and prove a bold theory: anyone can be a genius with the right instruction. Enter Mindy, a ditzy baton twirler who knows more about hair roots than square roots. What could she possibly learn from such a frumpy nerd, except maybe what not to wear? But somewhere between studying and shopping, the two girls start to become friends. They're an unlikely pair, but in this uproarious middle-grade comedy, wacky is the norm and anything is possible - just like middle school.
#1 New York Times bestselling author! A New York Times Best Seller! Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Fiction of 2014! An Indie Next Pick! From New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell, comes a hilarious, heart-wrenching take on love, marriage, and magic phones. Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it's been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply-but that almost seems beside the point now. Maybe that was always beside the point. Two days before they're supposed to visit Neal's family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can't go. She's a TV writer, and something's come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her-Neal is always a little upset with Georgie-but she doesn't expect to him to pack up the kids and go without her. When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she's finally done it. If she's ruined everything. That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It's not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she's been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts. . . . Is that what she's supposed to do? Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?
Anshel Brusilow was born in 1928 and raised in Philadelphia by musical Russian Jewish parents in a neighborhood where practicing your instrument was as normal as hanging out the laundry. By the time he was sixteen he was appearing as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He also met Pierre Monteux at sixteen, when Monteux accepted him into his summer conducting school. Under George Szell, Brusilow was associate concertmaster at the Cleveland Orchestra until Ormandy snatched him away to make him concertmaster in Philadelphia, where he remained from 1959 to 1966. Ormandy and Brusilow had a father-son relationship, but Brusilow could not resist conducting, to Ormandy's great displeasure. By the time he was forty, Brusilow had sold his violin and formed his own chamber orchestra in Philadelphia with more than a hundred performances per year. For three years he was conductor of the Dallas Symphony, until he went on to shape the orchestral programs at Southern Methodist University and the University of North Texas. Brusilow played with or conducted many top-tier classical musicians, and he has opinions about each and every one. He also made many recordings. Co-written with Robin Underdahl, his memoir is a fascinating and unique view of American classical music during an important era, as well as an inspiring story of a working-class immigrant child making good in a tough arena.
The lives of four high school seniors intersect weeks before a meteor is set to pass through Earth's orbit, with a 66.6% chance of striking and destroying all life on the planet.
