New generation pays tribute to Leonard Bernstein

November 18, 2008

NEW YORK – Leonard Bernstein was as much a teacher as a conductor and composer. Now, the post boomer generation — Bernstein’s musical grandchildren — have taken the stage, and perhaps just in time for classical music.

This weekend, two young lions of the podium — men about to take on the awesome responsibility of leading orchestras in the nation’s two largest cities — paid tribute to Lenny with Carnegie Hall concerts celebrating the late maestro’s 90th birthday season.

On Friday, the 41-year-old Alan Gilbert led the New York Philharmonic in a commemoration of the 65th anniversary of Bernstein’s first major triumph with the orchestra he went on to lead from 1958 to 1969. On the same stage on Nov. 14, 1943, the 25-year-old Bernstein created a sensation — and front-page news the next day — by filling in for the ailing Bruno Walter in a national radio concert.

On Sunday, the 27-year-old Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel led the Israel Philharmonic in two works by Bernstein, plus one of Bernstein’s favorite symphonies.

It’s too bad Bernstein, who died in 1990 at age 72 — wasn’t around to witness this juxtaposition of masterful young talent. Gilbert was 5 when the last of Bernstein’s "Young People’s Concerts" was televised in 1972; Dudamel wasn’t even born to witness the iconic series that brought classical music to the baby-boom generation.

In this image released by the New York Philharmonic, Music Director Designate Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on Friday, Nov. 14, 2008, in a concert celebrating the 65th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s Philharmonic conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.
(AP Photo/ New York Philharmonic, Chris Lee)

More of the story,
click image

Posted in Arts and Culture, Music