Jessica Duchen
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Jessica Duchen

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My latest book, MYRA HESS - NATIONAL TREASURE, was honoured with a Book of the Year Award from Presto Music in 2025. It's the first biography in nearly 50 years of the legendary pianist who ran concerts daily in the National Gallery throughout World War II and who rose from rebellious young musician before World War I to the status of international superstar and national heroine. I write about music for the Times and Sunday Times, the I Paper and BBC Music Magazine, among others. I also write fiction, librettos and occasionally plays, and create and present narrated concerts. My other books include the novel IMMORTAL, revealing the epic love story behind Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved' letter; six more novels on musical topics; and biographies of Korngold, Fauré and the London Chamber Orchestra. I've been librettist for several choral works, a song cycle and two operas with Roxanna Panufnik: DALIA, for Garsington 2022 ("sharp, affecting and embracing" - The Observer) and the winner of a Music Education Excellence Award; and SILVER BIRCH, shortlisted for an International Opera Award in 2018. Also two youth operas, THE SELFISH GIANT with composer John Barber and THE HAPPY PRINCESS with Paul Fincham. I live in London with my husband and our cat. >>REVIEWS<< "Magnificent" –– The Spectator on MYRA HESS - NATIONAL TREASURE "With obvious affection Duchen paints a rounded portrait of this much-loved and determined pianist, who instigated the famed wartime series at the National Gallery." –– The Financial Times – Best summer books of 2025 "Duchen thoroughly immerses us in Myra’s world… There are two earlier books about Hess but none for half a century. This one is definitive. Duchen is a seasoned music journalist who is able to turn what is perhaps a niche subject into one of general interest. Assiduously researched and sourced by someone with a profound knowledge of pianists and the piano… The book is beautifully designed and produced… This is a highly desirable biography that honours a great musician." Jeremy Nicholas – Gramophone “IMMORTAL is a revelation, offering the ideal blend of historic exactitude and a book you simply won’t want to put down. -- Daniel Hope, violinist and president of the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn "From its first, dazzlingly-rendered pages IMMORTAL pulls you into a vanished world and an utterly compelling love story – at its centre, one of music’s greatest and most enduring mysteries. Few authors understand better than Jessica Duchen the way music can change the course of a life; and few writers make that music leap more vividly off the page. If you’ve ever wondered what Ludwig van Beethoven was like as a man, here he is, painted as if from life: inspiring, infuriating, and intensely, unapologetically real. Because for all her understanding of art and character, and her brilliantly-described evocations of early 19th century Vienna in all its splendour and squalor, Duchen never forgets that at the core of all great music – and all great stories – beats a human heart." -- Richard Bratby, music critic for Gramophone and The Spectator "A thrilling read" -- John Suchet, The Daily Mail Christmas Books Choice, on GHOST VARIATIONS "Schumann's wonderful violin concerto has a tragic history unlike any other piece of music. In this splendid new novel Jessica Duchen manages to find the fine balance between facts and fiction.Her book reads like a thriller yet it's also a tribute to great music and musicians." -- Sir András Schiff on GHOST VARIATIONS "Enthralling...Jessica writes with an unpredictable and original voice and a dazzling perceptiveness" -- Joanna Lumley "Jessica Duchen's libretto is powerful and poetic" -- Richard Morrison, The Times
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