The Silent Musician - Why Conducting Matters

* A Financial Times Book of the Year *

-What does a conductor do? It may be a favourite joke among the musicians in an orchestra, but Wigglesworth wants to find a more thoughtful answer. Avoiding jargon, he analyses what he has discovered during 30 years in the job.- Financial Times, Books of the Year

A conductor is one of classical music-s most recognisable but misunderstood figures, attracting so many questions:

-Surely orchestras can play perfectly well without you? -

-Do you really make any difference to the performance?-

-Are the musicians even watching you?-

The Silent Musician is not a manual for conductors, nor a history of conducting. It is for all who wonder what conductors actually do, and why they matter.