Biography (read more)
Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, pianist, and music educator, born August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, and educated at Harvard University and the Curtis Institute of Music. He was the first American-born conductor to lead a major American orchestra to international acclaim, serving as music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1957 to 1969. As a composer he moved fluidly between Broadway and the concert hall, writing the musicals “West Side Story” (1957), “On the Town” (1944), “Wonderful Town” (1953), and “Candide” (1956), alongside concert works including three symphonies, the “Chichester Psalms” (1965), and “Mass” (1971). He died October 14, 1990, in New York City.
Bernstein bridged popular and classical music like few figures before him, and through his television “Young People’s Concerts” (1958–1972) he became one of the most influential music educators of the 20th century; “West Side Story” remains a landmark fusion of symphonic technique and American musical theater.
Sources: