Acclaimed Author, Composer, and Teacher Ann Mracek Recently Featured on Close Up Radio

SAINT LOUIS, MO, UNITED STATES, October 27, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Ann Mracek has written symphonies, conducted them, and now built a book around one. Symphony of Self: Compose Your Life recently won Author of the Year, Self-Help, at the 2026 International Impact Book Awards in Hollywood.

Music came early. Ann started piano at 5, wrote her first composition at 6, and taught her first students at 14. At 16, a car crash left her with neck and spine injuries. She got through the pain by listening to music and visualizing herself dancing. Just 2 years later, she danced for real. She was cast in the Jukebox Jubilee show at Six Flags and went on to a 25-year career as a professional belly dancer.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Kansas in four years, then opened Mracek Studio in 1979. More than 2,000 students have studied with her since, and she has composed over 300 works.

Music is her inherited legacy. Ann is the great-grand-niece of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. As a child, though, music was also her escape. When her parents fought, she retreated into sound and into an imaginary friend: a dragon who helped her through things she couldn’t yet name. That dragon became her Symphony No. 1, Shadow Dragon.

Her memoir, Unpacking the Attic: A Path to Healing Your Inner Child, began when she emptied her parents’ home after they moved to assisted living. Old objects stirred up buried memories. The book shows how you can rewrite the story you told yourself as a child, using forgiveness and an adult’s perspective. It has won 28 awards.

Symphony of Self goes a step further. Each of its 15 chapters ends with a QR code that opens a 10-minute guided meditation Ann composed for that chapter. You don’t just read about rest or focus. You hear it. Ann calls this experiential self-help.

Today she leads meditations, seminars, and retreats where people find a safe place, practice forgiveness, and plan the life they want. These are the same tools she used to heal. Her YouTube channel has 558,000 subscribers and 13 million views, and she hosts her own podcast, Creativity With Purpose.

“Our lives are based on energy and how that energy vibrates in the world. So is music. It is all about vibration and frequency. Just as we can produce a certain tone from an instrument, we can produce the life we want to live once we pay attention. Our energy can help us move from frightened, to grounded, to transformed.”

Ann joins us fresh from Hawaii, where she celebrated the award. She’ll talk about the music behind each chapter and how you can start composing your own life.

Close Up Radio recently featured Ann Mracek in a two-part interview with Jim Masters on Friday October 23rd at 3pm Eastern, and with Doug Llewelyn on Friday October 30th at 3pm Eastern

Listen to the Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-1-close-up-radio-welcomes-back-acclaimed-author/id1785721253?i=1000798277828
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-close-up-radio-242020413/episode/part-1-close-up-radio-welcomes-back-acclaimed-author-composer-and-teacher-ann-mracek-348496899
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nuOh8QuhWWVdAAe6tvkGK

For more information about Ann’s life and work please visit www.symphonyofself.com

Lou Ceparano
Close Up Television & Radio
+1 631-850-3314
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