A book 50 years in the making

Gustav Meier sits on a bench on the campus of the Peabody Institute flipping through his new book, The Score, the Orchestra, and the Conductor. The director of the graduate conducting program at Peabody grabbed this particular copy from a student shepherding stacks of the book to a signing due to start at any moment. Meier still can’t quite believe the text is complete and in his hand. He has spent decades training aspiring conductors in the subtle art of the baton, and it took years to put those teachings into print. “This book is 50 years in the making,” he says.