"The Podium Papers" is an honest and entertaining dispatch from the front lines of one of the world's most interesting and misunderstood professions. Like Anthony Bourdain in his "Kitchen Confidential," Martin Kessler takes the reader through the swinging doors and into the real 'kitchen' of the art of conducting. This non-linear memoir uses the informal essay to explore the life and work of a veteran mid-level artist, and it does so in a voice that...