The President's Pianist: My Term with Truman and My Life in Music

In a warmly personal and evocative memoir, George Manos recounts the highlights of his long and varied career as classical pianist, conductor, composer, and teacher. Manos served as President Harry S. Truman's personal pianist; performed at famed classical music venues like the Bethlehem Bach Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival; served as music director at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.; founded and conducted the Killarney Bach Festival in Ireland; and taught at prestigious schools and universities in and around Washington. He performed with many of the leading musicians of the 20th century, including acclaimed singers like Todd Duncan, Elena Nikolaidi, and Katharine Hansel, and renowned composers and conductors like Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Leopold Stokowski, and Igor Stravinksy. Manos also played for some of the century's top political leaders: President Truman, his family, and inner circle, Eleanor Roosevelt, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Charles and Princess Diana of England, and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India. This book will delight all who love music and who wish to learn more about the personal and musical side of President Truman and of many of the 20th century's greatest classical musicians.