August 19, 2018 | Stephen Peithman
Today West Side Story is one of the best-known musicals in the world. But 12 years before Leonard Bernstein wrote it, his classical mentor spent three hours berating the young composer for squandering his talents on Broadway.
August 19, 2018 | Stephen Peithman
Leonard Bernstein wrote and appeared in eight televised lectures for adults and 53 concerts for young people as commentator, piano soloist and conductor. The programs were his attempt to make classical music accessible to all.
August 19, 2018 | Stephen Peithman
Leonard Bernstein loved to conduct every bit as much as he wanted to compose. In fact, Bernstein the conductor felt he “became” the composer of the work he led.
August 19, 2018 | Stephen Peithman
Bernstein’s life was full of personal and professional conflict. Music was his way of working through that, speaking primarily to what he saw as a crisis of faith: his own and humanity’s.
February 23, 2018 | Cody Drabble
Classical pianist Lara Downes released “For Lenny” in the centennial year of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. She performs classics and lost gems from the Bernstein catalog live in the Insight studio.
November 16, 2017 | Kevin Doherty
Lara Downes is giving us a preview of her new album in 12 weekly episodic pre-releases. "For Lenny," due out in February, is a commemorative album honoring Leonard Bernstein for his 100th birthday.
November 14, 2017 | Kevin Doherty
The fourteenth of November marks the very first meeting of two lifelong friends and two of the most influential musicians in American history: Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.
