Symphony of Dreams: The Conductor and Patron Paul Sacher

The life of Paul Sacher, the Swiss conductor and billionaire who died in May 1999, has been described as 'fifty lives full of secrets'. Conductor, music- and arts-patron, businessman, entrepreneur— Paul Sacher was all those things. But how was it that a man born into a family with no musical background was able to shape the face of contemporary classical music worldwide for more than sixty years? How did that same man, who grew up in modest circumstances, ultimately become one of the world's wealthiest men? And how did he come to be the driving force behind one of the world's most powerful pharmaceutical empires for more than half a century? Lesley Stephenson worked closely with Paul Sacher for fifteen years as his ghost writer and translator. Through her work, and in dozens of lengthy interviews with this intensely private man, she managed to break through his legendary mask of reserve, accessing facts that were previously unknown even to family members and close friends. Her biography of Sacher, Symphony of Dreams: The Conductor and Patron Paul Sacher, has been described by The London Times as 'enthralling', and by Germany's prestigious magazine DER SPIEGEL as '...one of the most fascinating biographies of recent years.'