By age 16, the author of this piquant memoir was dealing marijuana, bedding her instructors at a performing arts high school and studying the oboe. Later, her blossoming career as a freelance musician in New York introduced her to a classical music demimonde of cocaine parties and group sex that had her wondering why she 'got hired for so many of my gigs in bed'. Mozart in the Jungle is a biting critique of the conservatories that produce thousands of graduates each year to pursue a handful of jobs, the superstar conductors and soloists who lord it over orchestral peons and a fine arts establishment depicted as bloated and corrupt.

Author Biography

Blair Tindall writes about classical music for the New York Times and has performed, toured and recorded with the New York Philharmonic. She has taught journalism at Stanford University and oboe at the University of California, Berkeley.