Cadence

Memoir, intercontinental cycling adventure, music guide, Cadence is the debut book by ABC Classic FM’s Emma Ayres. Accompanied by Vita, her steadfast bicycle, and her violin, Aurelia, Emma Ayres cycles her way from England to Hong Kong. But this is also a journey through the keys – and the music that has inspired, shaped and provided refuge for Emma: Beethoven quartets, Mahler symphonies, Brahms sonatas, Bach suites …It is a book of questions too: How does the instrument you play reveal who you are as a person? Should you tell the serious Pakistani chap who has just welcomed you into the men’s quarters of his house that you’re not quite who he thinks you are…? Provocative, intelligent, surprising and funny, Cadence is a delight from one of Australia’s best-loved broadcasters.

Author Biography

Eddie Ayres is a writer, musician and broadcaster. He was born on the White Cliffs of Dover and began playing music when he was six years old. He studied music in Manchester, Berlin and London, played professionally in the UK and Hong Kong and moved to Australia in 2003. Ed is the presenter of ABC Classic’s Weekend Breakfast.

Ed has written three other books – Cadence, about his journey by bicycle from England to Hong Kong with only a violin for company; Danger Music, describing his year teaching music in Afghanistan; and Sonam and the Silence, a children’s book about the importance of music. Ed’s books have been shortlisted for several prestigious awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

Ed was born Emma, and transitioned just before his fiftieth birthday. Better late than never.