Accessibility links
Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Leon Fleisher

Leon Fleisher, The Pianist Who Reinvented Himself, Dies At 92

Pianist Leon Fleisher eventually resumed playing with both hands after an injury sidelined him at age 36. Chris Hartlove/Provided by the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Chris Hartlove/Provided by the artist

Deceptive Cadence

Leon Fleisher, The Pianist Who Reinvented Himself, Dies At 92

The beloved pianist was a young lion of his generation until a hand injury forced him to rethink his relationship to music.

Leon Fleisher, The Pianist Who Reinvented Himself, Dies At 92

Listen · 3:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/702978476/898496971" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Great War At 100: Music Of Conflict And Remembrance

Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein (who later became an American citizen) lost an arm in World War I. He commissioned composers including Maurice Ravel to write pieces for the left hand alone. Bettmann/CORBIS hide caption

toggle caption
Bettmann/CORBIS

Deceptive Cadence

The Great War At 100: Music Of Conflict And Remembrance

One hundred years after the start of World War I, hear a range of pop and classical music from artists of the era. Some music reflects the war's violence, some gives solace.

The Great War At 100: Music Of Conflict And Remembrance

Listen · 7:08
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/333733548/335986228" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Music

Leah Fleisher Cures What Ails Musicians

Pianist Leon Fleisher is perhaps the most well-known case of a musician being sidelined by a debilitating injury. After being unable to play with his right hand, he re-invented himself as a left-handed player and conductor. Leah Fleisher, his daughter and a physical therapist, tries to make sure that doesn't happen to other musicians.

Leah Fleisher Cures What Ails Musicians

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/89408904/89408869" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

79th Annual Academy Awards

'Two Hands,' an Oscar Nominee with Heart

Nathaniel Kahn's film Two Hands, a film about pianist Leon Fleisher's 30-year struggle to return to the concert stage, is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.

'Two Hands,' an Oscar Nominee with Heart

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7549885/7575704" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Music

'Performance Today' at 20: A Look Back

Twenty years of programs, two hours a day, every day. That's around 45-thousand performances, recorded in places as remote as alpine ski villages in South Korea, to the great cathedrals of music in Paris, to chamber music festivals in the hills of New Mexico, to NPR's own Studio 4-A. It's impossible to squeeze 20 years into two hours, so here are some sweet memories, thrilling performances, and even a few flukes.

'Performance Today' at 20: A Look Back

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6729424/6728742" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music Interviews

Triumphant Pianist

On every Tuesday in the month of November, NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg examines how people cope with significant loss, and how they find a way to recover. In her first report, she talks with Leon Fleisher, one of America's premiere pianists, who lost the use of his right hand due to a repetitive motion injury. Instead of giving up music, he began teaching, conducting, and even played concerts featuring music written for just the left hand. Fleisher is now 72 years old, and has undergone numerous treatments to regain the use of his hand. His efforts have paid off, and now select audiences can again listen to this great pianist playing two handed works.

Triumphant Pianist

Only Available in Archive Formats.
Browse archive or search npr.org