Mary Lou Falcone (Voice '66) Launches First Book, "I Didn't See It Coming"
“Beyond being essential reading for those caring for someone with Lewy body dementia (LBD), I Didn’t See It Coming is a beautifully rendered, inspiring chronicle of determination, resilience, and boundless love.” —Renée Fleming, soprano
For five decades, internationally known classical music publicist/strategist and Curtis alumna Mary Lou Falcone (Voice ’66) has stood at the forefront of the industry, helping guide the careers of many of the world’s most prominent artists and institutions. She has recently launched her first book, the beautifully poignant I Didn’t See It Coming: Scenes of Love, Loss and Lewy Body Dementia. This deeply personal memoir takes readers on a cathartic journey of caregiving as Ms. Falcone unflinchingly shares in detail her late husband’s struggle with Lewy body dementia (LBD). This heartrending, progressive disease affects so many and is characterized by progressive cognitive and functional decline over time.
Divided into seven sections with additional appendices featuring resources for Lewy body and related dementia, Ms. Falcone delves into all aspects of her life and career. From her high school music teacher, Roy Lenox; and first voice teacher, Dorothy Fulmer; to Efrem Zimbalist Sr., director of the Curtis Institute of Music from 1941 to 1968, she describes how music became her passport to the world. In late April of 1963, at age 17, Ms. Falcone auditioned for Curtis and was chosen by Zimbalist to study voice with soprano Eufemia Giannini Gregory. At the school, she developed a lifelong friendship with a charismatic young organist named John Binsfeld and created innumerable memories. She graduated in 1966, taught at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, for six years, and sang professionally for eight. Her voice, talent, education, and experiences at Curtis and beyond led her to serve on the faculty at the Juilliard School for twenty-two years, deliver lectures worldwide, and become the “Queen of Classical Music PR and Strategy.”
Ms. Falcone’s courageous book provides informative, compassionate, and inspiring insights into dementia as it chronicles her difficult voyage navigating the effects and struggles of this disease with her husband, Nicky Zann, a popular 1950s rock ‘n’ roll musician who became a world-renowned cartoonist, illustrator, and painter. As the book concludes, she emerges transformed and energized, with the aspiration that her story will offer others encouragement and hope.
Ms. Falcone will be returning to campus on Thursday, November 16, 2023, to speak with the Curtis community about her memoir and discuss the lasting influence of the school on her life and career. As Mary Lou Falcone says in her first chapter, “The arc of life has taken some dramatic turns that I didn’t see coming, and my heart tells me it’s time to share.”
Visit Mary Lou Falcone’s official website, and read an article and interview with Ms. Falcone in the New York Times.
To order a copy of I Didn’t See It Coming: Scenes of Love, Loss and Lewy Body Dementia, click HERE.
