Leonard Bernstein and the Promise of America
The conductor would have turned 100 on Saturday. It’s worth recalling what he cherished about this country.
No holding back.
Source: Bettmann/Getty ImagesLeonard Bernstein — “Lenny” to his friends — would have been 100 Saturday. A child of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Bernstein rose to become one of the world’s greatest musical icons. He brought us the Jets and the Sharks in “West Side Story,” as well as enduring New York serenades. Moreover, he showed us how making music “more intensely, more beautifully, [and] more devotedly than ever before” could bridge cultural barriers — and free people to dream.
Distinguished as a conductor, Bernstein led orchestras from Austria to Australia, and was the first American to serve as music director for the New York Philharmonic. As a composer, Bernstein was prodigious and multivarious, writing everything from classical symphonies to musicals and opera.