Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
No single American could personify what Henry Luce called the American Century, but Isaac Stern came closer than most. Despite modest origins as the child of Jewish immigrants in San Francisco, by the early 1940s talent and practice had brought him a Carnegie Hall debut, critical acclaim, and the attention of the legendary Sol Hurok.
As America came of age, so too did Stern. He would go on to make music on five continents, records in formats from 78 rpm to digital, friends as different as Frank Sinatra and Isaiah Berlin, and policy from Carnegie Hall to Washington, Jerusalem, and Shanghai. He also loaned instruments to young players, brokered gigs for Soviet emigr s, and replied in person to inquiring fifth graders. Wide-ranging yet intimate, The Lives of Isaac Stern is a portrait of an artist and musical statesman who began as a first-generation American dreamer and left behind a profound musical and cultural legacy.
Synopsis
No single American could personify what Henry Luce called the American Century. But over his eighty-one years, Isaac Stern came closer than most. Russian-Jewish parents brought him to San Francisco at ten months; practice and talent got him to Carnegie Hall, critical acclaim, and the attention of the legendary impresario Sol Hurok at twenty-five.
As America came of age, so too did Stern. He would go on to make music on five continents, records in formats from 78 rpm to digital, and friends as different as Frank Sinatra and Sir Isaiah Berlin. An unofficial cultural ambassador for Cold War America, he toured the world from Tokyo to Tehran and Tbilisi. He also shaped public policy from New York and Washington to Jerusalem and Shanghai. His passion for developing young talents--including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Midori--led him to loan instruments to needy players, broker gigs for Soviet migr s, and reply in person to inquiring fifth-graders.
As the first historian to mine his papers at the Library of Congress, David Schoenbaum traces Stern's sixty-year career from his formative years in San Francisco to concurrent careers as an activist, public citizen, chairman, and cultural leader in the Jewish community. Wide-ranging yet intimate, The Lives of Isaac Stern is a portrait of an artist and statesman who began as an American dreamer and left a lasting inheritance to his art, profession, and the world.