Welsh National Opera will soon be performing a brand-new production of Leonard Bernstein’s brilliant operetta Candide. A wacky and animated romp through philosophy’s most famous satire, only Leonard Bernstein’s musical genius could have come up with the melodies destined to secure the work in the Broadway Hall of Fame. Let’s take a closer look at Bernstein’s illustrious and star-studded career as one of the world’s most accomplished musicians, conductors, and composers.
Compositions
Born in the USA in 1918, Bernstein is one of the most famous American composers of the 20th century. His best known composition is undoubtedly the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story which has since been adapted into two feature-length films (1961 and 2021). With lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical was an instant hit and its songs were soon known across the world. Bernstein later adapted the musical’s orchestral score into a suite entitled Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which remains today a staple piece in the concert repertoire.
Bernstein also composed in many other genres, spanning from film scores (On the Waterfront), choral works (Chichester Psalms), a musical theatre inspired setting of a Catholic mass (MASS), operetta (Candide), three orchestral symphonies among plenty more.
Conducting
Bernstein was a towering figure in the orchestral world and was the first major American figure to achieve notable international status as a conductor. The majority of top conductors trained in Europe but Bernstein broke the mould with his American education and became the New York Philharmonic’s first American-born director of music.
He is particularly remembered for his energetic performances of the music of his New York Philharmonic predecessor, the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Bernstein was the first conductor to record the complete Mahler’s cycle of symphonies, which he did twice with leading orchestras around the world.
As an accomplished pianist, he often conducted orchestras from the piano, and performed major concert works such as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and his own composition, Symphony No 2: The Age of Anxiety.
Education work
Bernstein was hugely committed to education work and sharing musicwith as many people as possible. One of his main achievements was with the New York Philharmonic’s Young People Concerts - televised performances for children and young people,introducing a new generation to classical music on Saturday nights. From 1958 to 1972, Bernstein presented and conducted the concerts live, writing the scripts himself and planning the pieces around the orchestra’s concert season.
He was also famously a mentor to many young and up-and-coming conductors, including Michael Tilson Thomas, John Mauceri, Marin Alsop, Paavo Järvi, Seiji Ozawa among many others that later because household names.
His inspiring life has become subject of a new film, Maestro which will be released later this year, starring Bradley Cooper as Bernstein himself.
Don’t miss our dynamic new production of Candide when it opens in Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre on 22 June, before embarking on a tour to Truro, Llandudno, Oxford, Birmingham, and Brecon until 15 July.