Crescendo - by Anthea Kreston (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"This tale sparkles."―Blair Tindall, author of Mozart in the Jungle

A funny and fierce memoir of a classical performer's struggles, tragedies, and triumphs

When American violinist Anthea Kreston is selected as the fourth member of Germany's Artemis Quartet, it is the culmination of decades of dedication. In Crescendo, her enchanting and deeply personal memoir, Kreston writes about growing up in a well-to-do but difficult family in Chicago, leaving home at age sixteen, studying at the ultracompetitive Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (Hilary Hahn was a classmate), then burning out and leaving it all behind for a commune in Oregon.

All the while, Kreston never stops playing her beloved violin, and, in time, she finds her way back, making it to the top of the classical music world. She writes candidly about struggling with years of infertility and the challenges of being a mother with a performance career. When she moves her young family to Germany, she fights to stay true to herself, and maintain her marriage, amid the never-ending pressure of the string quartet. Told with warmth and wit (Kreston once gets out of a traffic ticket by playing "Danny Boy" for the Irish cop), Crescendo is an honest, and ultimately celebratory, reflection on art, ambition, and the choices that compose a life.

Review Quotes

"A singular voice in music, and now in words. Crescendo is a searingly honest look at the classical music world from within and manages to be as funny and uplifting as it is devastating. The same vulnerability and power that makes Kreston such a compelling instrumentalist is equally commanding in her prose. This memoir is a necessary and insightful look at what makes being an artist, a woman, a mother, and all three at the same time so incredibly challenging, but worthwhile."
--Ling Ling Huang, author of Immaculate Conception and Natural Beauty

"Anthea Kreston writes with passion and an insider's authority about life in a world-class string quartet. In prose that sometimes jumps off the page, she gives us detailed descriptions of her family life, her colleagues, her individual working process, the interactions of four distinct personalities and the music that binds them onstage and off in a never-ending quest for transcendence."
--Eugene Drucker, Emerson String Quartet, and author of The Savior

"Kreston--who demystifies the process of classical music through her popular blog--details the real lives of performers behind the scenes. This tale sparkles through hilarious exchanges, always taken with a light heart by the author."
―Blair Tindall, author of Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music

"I had only known Anthea as a superstar violinist with a dreamy career traveling the world with one of the most celebrated string quartets until I read Crescendo and felt like we were best friends, two cocktails in, catching up after years apart. She trusts us readers with the hardest and most meaningful parts of her life in stories that make me want to be a better musician, friend, and lover. What a badass!"
--Hunter Noack, pianist and founder of In a Landscape: Classical Music in the Wild

"Anthea Kreston tells an inside story that has never been recounted before. The life of an international string quartet is a closed book, a high-tension confrontation between four exceptional musicians. In Kreston's narrative, everything is out in the open, and the players are fighting for their existence. She's an extraordinary storyteller with a remarkable tale to tell."
―Norman Lebrecht, founder of the Slipped Disc, and author of Who Killed Classical Music

"Anthea Kreston's Crescendo gives some fine and rare insight into the inner workings of a string quartet. She is a fine writer, and I highly recommend it."
―Peter van der Graaff, Radio Host, Beethoven Satellite Network

About the Author

Anthea Kreston is a world-renowned violinist and violist who has performed on almost every major concert stage around the globe including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Royal Academy of Music (London), Prince Regent Theater (Munich), Teatro Nacional (Panama City), and Chateau d'Ainay-le-Veil (France), among others. She has played in the Berlin Philharmonic, as Principal Violin in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as concertmaster of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. An avid writer, Kreston is a frequent columnist for the Slipped Disc, the top international classical music news site, and the founder and curator of the Inside Music Book Club. She is currently first violinist of the Delgani String Quartet (Oregon) and Trio Libermé (Berlin) and lives in Corvallis, Oregon, with her husband and two daughters. Crescendo is her first book.