What It Was Like to Perform Under Legendary Conductor Arturo Toscanini

In this interview, Brittany Griffiths, Senior Manager of Operations at Brown Books Publishing Group and curator of the Brown Books Substack, hosts a conversation with Lucy Antek Johnson, author of This Was Toscanini: The Maestro, My Father, and Me. The book offers a rare insider account shaped by the firsthand experiences of Johnson’s father, Samuel Antek, who performed under the legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini. Their discussion explores the music, the discipline, and the thoughtful preservation of a unique perspective from within one of the twentieth century’s most influential orchestral legacies.