In 1953, Bernstein was the first American to conduct opera at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan: Cherubini's "Medea" with Maria Callas.īernstein was a leading advocate of American composers, particularly Aaron Copland. In 1947 he conducted in Tel Aviv, beginning a relationship with Israel that lasted until his death. Immediately after World War II, in 1946, he conducted in London and at the International Music Festival in Prague. More than half of Bernstein's 400-plus recordings were made with the New York Philharmonic.īernstein traveled the world as a conductor. He subsequently held the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor, making frequent guest appearances with the orchestra. From then until 1969 he led more concerts with the orchestra than any previous conductor. He was also visiting music professor, and head of the Creative Arts Festivals at Brandeis University in the early 1950s.īernstein became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958. In 1951, he married the Chilean actress and pianist, Felicia Montealegre. After Serge Koussevitzky died in 1951, Bernstein headed the orchestral and conducting departments at Tanglewood, teaching there for many years. In 1945, he was appointed Music Director of the New York City Symphony Orchestra, a post he held until 1947. (Leonard Bernstein, 1945 "For Serge Alexandrovich, with all my love, Leonard, Xmas, 1945") Soon orchestras worldwide sought him out as a guest conductor. On November 14, 1943, Bernstein substituted on a few hours' notice for the ailing Bruno Walter at a Carnegie Hall concert, which was broadcast nationally on radio, receiving critical acclaim. Bernstein later became Koussevitzky's conducting assistant.īernstein was appointed to his first permanent conducting post in 1943, as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. In 1940, he studied at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's newly created summer festival, the Berkshire Music Center, now named the Tanglewood Music Center, with the orchestra's conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Before graduating in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to "The Birds," and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock." Then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
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