Watch the video: who was Leonard Bernstein?
The American conductor, composer and pianist Leonard Bernstein is considered one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century.
The outstanding musician and conductor was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts into a Russian-Jewish immigrant family.
At the age of 10 he started playing the piano.
He received his musical training at Harvard University, where he studied piano and composition.
After graduating in 1939, he continued his piano studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was tutored by notable teachers such as Dimitri Mitropoulos and Isabella Vengerova.
His breakthrough as a conductor followed in 1943, when he temporarily stepped in for the ailing German conductor Bruno Walter and conducted a nationally broadcast concert. This brought him great recognition, and in 1945 he was appointed principal conductor of the New York City Symphony Orchestra.
In 1958 Bernstein was appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic. He is the first American to occupy such a prominent position in North American musical life.
He is well known for his wide range of works, including symphonies, ballets, operas, film scores and seminal Broadway scores such as “West Side Story”.
The romantic bond with his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, was multifaceted. They shared their lives for over three decades and had three children, while Felicia was also aware of her husband’s relationships with other men.
Bernstein leaves an unforgettable mark in music history. Through television and educational activities, he reaches many people who might otherwise have had little interest in classical music.
Leonard Bernstein died in New York on October 14, 1990.
Recently, a planned “Netflix” biopic about his life made headlines. Bradley Cooper stars and also directed.