As a child he was very close to his younger sister Shirley, and would often play entire operas or Beethoven symphonies with her at the piano. As a child, Bernstein attended the Garrison Grammar School and Boston Latin School. ![]() At a very young age, Bernstein listened to a piano performance and was immediately captivated he subsequently began learning the piano seriously when the family acquired his cousin Lillian Goldman's unwanted piano. Despite this, the elder Bernstein took him to orchestral concerts in his teenage years and eventually supported his music education. Sam initially opposed young Leonard's interest in music. His father, Sam Bernstein, was a businessman and owner of a hair product store in downtown Lawrence (no longer standing) on the corners of Amesbury and Essex Streets. To his friends and many others he was simply known as "Lenny." ![]() He officially changed his name to Leonard when he was fifteen, shortly after his grandmother's death. His grandmother insisted that his first name be Louis, but his parents always called him Leonard, which they preferred. His family spent their summers at their vacation home in Sharon, Massachusetts. He was born Louis Bernstein in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Ukrainian-Jewish parents Jennie (née Resnick) and Samuel Joseph Bernstein, a hairdressing supplies wholesaler originating from Rovno (now Ukraine). Many of his works are regularly performed around the world, although none has matched the tremendous popular and critical success of West Side Story. He was a skilled pianist, often conducting piano concertos from the keyboard.Īs a composer he wrote in many styles encompassing symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and pieces for the piano. His fame derived from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, from his conducting of concerts with most of the world's leading orchestras, and from his music for West Side Story, Peter Pan, Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town, On the Waterfront, his Mass, and a range of other compositions, including three symphonies and many shorter chamber and solo works.īernstein was the first conductor to give a series of television lectures on classical music, starting in 1954 and continuing until his death. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history." ![]() He was among the first conductors born and educated in the US to receive worldwide acclaim. Leonard Bernstein ( / ˈ b ɜːr n s t aɪ n/ BURN-styne August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist.
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