Music is a measure of how well I’m healing

‘I still play the piano to concert standard’, writes Meirion Bowen, who suffered a stroke a few years back. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

The interview with trumpeter Clarence Adoo (‘I’d rather play music than walk again’, G2, 30 May) moved me greatly. It’s wonderful that he can return to performance. Having suffered a stroke a few years back, I measure the success of the medical treatment in that what is most fundamental in my life – above all, music – is solid. I still play the piano to concert standard, I can conduct, and I’ve done a large number of new orchestrations of piano pieces which are likely to get published and played eventually. In addition I’ve created a new ensemble accompaniment for Michael Tippett’s cantata, Boyhood’s End, which will get published and performed soon. So now I thank my doctors and look forward confidently (at the age of 76) to the future.
Meirion Bowen
London

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