From Ear to Ear: A Pianist’s Love Affair With Song

by Steven Blier, Adam Gopnik (foreword)

A moving and tartly funny musical memoir both “comic and cosmic” (Adam Gopnik) by acclaimed pianist, spellbinding storyteller, and champion of song Steven Blier.


While other kids were enjoying the head-bashing pleasures of tackle football, a freshly bar mitzvahed Steven Blier was inhaling operas and getting his first taste of accompanying professional singers. From Ear to Ear recounts his picaresque and unfailingly entertaining road to a successful career as a collaborative pianist, bringing to life his partnerships with iconic performers like Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Jessye Norman, Cecilia Bartoli, and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and beloved mentors, including Alvin Epstein and Martha Schlamme. Drawing on his innovative work as a vocal coach and concert producer with his acclaimed New York Festival of Song, he takes readers deep into his artistic process. But Blier also tells a parallel his lifelong battle with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Aided by his intense determination, as well as his wry sense of humor, Blier continues his life at the piano. As Adam Gopnik writes in his foreword, From Ear to Ear is “genuinely heroic, a testament to the power of music.”

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Music

280 pages, Hardcover

Published November 18, 2025

Reviews

[Michelle Pulignani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

[Brooke Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an absolute joy to read. I loved every minute of it.