Leo Ornstein

This first ever full-length biography of Ornstein examines the life of an American import who shook up the music scene. It tries to answer the questions of why he suddenly abandoned a successful concert career and why it took so long for his music to reemerge. The authors also explore the stylistic epiphany which came to Ornstein in 1913, when he began composing and performing solo piano works that rivaled the most dissonant and harmonically advanced pieces of the time and then, three years later, renounced the direction of his most innovative works. Finally, they examine choices made in Ornstein's personal life and how they affected his career. Pianist, futurist, anarchist, and advocate for all things modern, Ornstein died in 2002 at the age of 108 (or 109, depending on the records consulted).