NW Book Talk – Anthea Kreston 10-14-2026

Anthea Kreston – Crescendo and the Life of an Adventurous Violinist

Violinist and Oregon author Anthea Kreston joins Patty Grasher on Northwest Book Talk to discuss her memoir, Crescendo: Chronicles of an Adventurous Violinist. 

Her career has taken her from the Curtis Institute of Music to Carnegie Hall and Germany’s acclaimed Artemis String Quartet. 

In this lively, candid conversation, Kreston shares the person behind the performances—a mother, musician, and writer whose curiosity and determination have shaped an adventurous life.

The conversation explores:

• How weekly blog posts written on her phone became a memoir.
• Moving her family to Berlin to join the Artemis String Quartet.
• Her grandfather’s lasting influence and the violin his legacy made possible.
• Finding the courage to write honestly about difficult childhood experiences.
• Raising musical daughters and performing together as a family quartet.
• Choosing Corvallis as home and building a musical life around it.

Kreston also plays an excerpt from Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs, offering listeners a glimpse of the emotional storytelling at the heart of her music. 

With humor and warmth, she reflects on friendship, ambition, and what she hopes readers discover in her book: the courage to follow their interests and craft a life of their own.

Discover more author interviews at NorthwestBookTalk.com.