A recipient of the 30th annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement, renowned pianist, conductor and teacher Leon Fleisher is now in his sixth decade before the public. A student of the great German pianist Artur Schnabel, by sixteen Mr. Fleisher had made his debut with the New York Philharmonic. In 1952, he was the first American to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium competition.

Mr. Fleisher's performing career was suddenly curtailed in 1965 when two fingers of his right hand became immobile. For the next four decades, he followed parallel careers - as conductor and teacher - while learning to play the interesting but limited repertoire of compositions for piano left-hand. Recently he has been playing - infrequently - with both hands again, and has just made his first two-hand recording.