Tobias Picker Featured in 'Musicophilia' by Oliver Sacks

In his new book Musicophilia, renowned neurologist and author Oliver Sacks provides detailed accounts of people with peculiar aural afflictions in an effort to contribute to our understanding of music and further illustrate the workings of the human mind. One such case he uses to illustrate this purpose involves our own Tobias Picker. Though he lives with Tourette's Syndrome, Dr. Sacks notes that Mr. Picker can still write in every mode, and can shift between compositional styles with consummate ease. Mr. Picker tells Dr. Sacks that the syndrome has shaped his imagination, "I live my life controlled by Tourette's but use music to control it. I have harnessed its energy - I play with it, manipulate it, trick it, mimic it, taunt it, explore it, exploit it, in every possible way."

Please visit www.nytimes.com to read Michiko Kakutani's review of Musicophilia.

For more information on the music of Tobias Picker, visit www.schott-music.com or www.tobiaspicker.com.