Leonard Bernstein
Portraits by Yousuf Karsh
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Leonard Bernstein (1865 - 1957)
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Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990).
Conductor and composer, born Louis Bernstein, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 25,
1918. Bernstein played the piano starting in his childhood and entered Harvard at age seventeen.
After graduating in 1939, he arrived at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he studied
conducting with the legendary maestro Fritz Reiner. After becoming a protege of Koussevitsky as
a Tanglewood conducting student in 1940-41, he was named assistant conductor of the New
York Philharmonic, and in 1943 made a sensation when he stepped in at the last minute for the
indisposed conductor Bruno Walter.
He followed an active career as a guest conductor and occasional pianist during the 1940s. In that decade he also composed several symphonies and the Broadway musical Fancy Free. In 1952 he premiered his one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti and 1957 saw the debut of his blockbuster musical West Side Story. The next year he began an 11-year tenure as conductor of the New York Philharmonic and a series of televised Young Peoples' Concerts which, combined with his engaging personality and flamboyant conducting style, made him the most popular conductor in the country. In all, he composed three symphonies: Jeremiah, Age of Anxiety and Kaddish; the Serenade for Violin and Orchestra; Chichester Psalms for Orchestra and Chorus; three ballets: Fancy Free, Facsimile and Dybbuk; and the operas Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place. For theater, he wrote On the Town, Wonderful Town, Candide, West Side Story and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A theater piece for singers, players and dancers entitled Mass opened the Kennedy Center is Washington D.C. in 1971. His later compositions included Divertimento for Orchestra, Halil, Songfest, Jubilee Games and Arias and Barcarolles. In later years he guest-conducted worldwide. Having spent his early career championing conservative American composers such as Copland, in the 1970s he became the spearhead of the Mahler revival. Leonard Bernstein conducted and created music until his death in New York City on October 14, 1990. | |||||||
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Print # 1. 1985 portrait, a modern black and white reproduction (a published reprint
of poster quality), available in 14x11" white mat (image size: ~9.75x7.5).
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