The Last Impresario

Besides being a master impresario himself, whose vision of "bridging differences among cultures through the shared passion of music and dance" has embraced audiences the world over, Peter is a wonderful storyteller.The reader is swept away in a journey of producing theater, from the seeds of artistic inspiration to the excitement of opening night. Other than the trials and tribulations of show biz, the book is an adventure woven into the social, cultural, and political climate of our...
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Besides being a master impresario himself, whose vision of "bridging differences among cultures through the shared passion of music and dance" has embraced audiences the world over, Peter is a wonderful storyteller.The reader is swept away in a journey of producing theater, from the seeds of artistic inspiration to the excitement of opening night. Other than the trials and tribulations of show biz, the book is an adventure woven into the social, cultural, and political climate of our times.Bravo, Maestro!A toast to The Last Impresario!Keith Ferrone, Artistic DirectorFlorence Dance Festival"The stars were aligned: the US had successfully used performing arts as soft currency on the world stage. In the 1970s, Peter Klein, an immigrant residing in New York, captured this new fascination with cutting-edge US performing arts around the world. The backstage theatrics in managing the international cultural, social, and political challenges of prestigious performing art companies during Peter's forty-five-plus-year career are fascinating."JONI CHERBO, PhD"Peter Klein's memoir is a page-turner starting with Peter's travels with preeminent guitarist Andrés Segovia, and continuing with fascinating stories from years presenting artists such as Liza Minnelli, Arthur Mitchell, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Peter chronicles the hard work, drama, and never-ending surprises of his two decades touring George Gershwin's masterpiece Porgy and Bess worldwide-from China to Israel, from Trinidad to Australia, and beyond."MICHAEL LORIMER, CLASSICAL GUITARIST"Peter Klein is a storyteller. He begins with the 'menacing oppression,' of Communist Romania, where he grew up. He was twenty-three when he found his calling as a cultural ambassador for the arts, which, he learned, could break through barriers and borders. There are big names and adventures in his telling of the time he had to rush Andrés Segovia's spectacles to the White House for a performance, or tangled with the mob in Sorrento, or came up against the racism of theatrical unions when he toured Porgy and Bess. This is a tale of a life's passion, along with the determination and imagination it takes to create the situations in which artists and audiences can thrive."AMEI WALLACH