an end when Il Duce began implementing anti-Semitic policies around 1938.

"Mussolini made an exception for my teacher, but Schnabel said, 'Thank you very much, no,' and immigrated to the United States," Fleischer recalled.

In the fall, Fleischer's father sold his San Francisco hat shops and took a New York City factory job so that the family could relocate near Schnabel's new home on Central Park West.

The move paid off: Fleischer made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Philharmonic when he was 16 and went on to become "one of the darlings of all the great conductors," "60 Minutes" noted in 2005. "[He] might have become the most famous American pianist of all time. But ... like a hero from a Greek tragedy, he was struck down inhis prime."

Fleischer's dystonia not only prevented him from playing the standard piano repertoire, it deteriorated to the point where he could no longer write or feed himself with his right hand.

In the midst of a deep depression, Fleischer divorced his wife, grew a ponytail and a beard and bought a motor scooter that he drove recklessly, "putting myself at risk any number of times," he says.

He felt his life was over until he realized his connection was to the music, not to playing with both hands. Fleischer sought out repertoire written exclusively for the left hand, threw himself into teaching at Baltimore's prestigious Peabody Conservatory and conducted orchestras, such as the Annapolis Symphony. He also tested his right hand daily and sought to improve his condition via techniques