Latest News
Bernstein Goes Back to School
Posted September 24, 2024
Bernstein Goes Back to School
by Jamie Bernstein
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story in Essen, Germany. Trouble in Tahiti in Lucerne, Switzerland. Chichester Psalms in Klagenfurt, Austria. Candide Overture in Bucharest, Romania. Halil in Innsbruck, Austria. MASS in Munich, Germany. To say nothing of Trouble in Tahiti in Orlando, FL; Serenade in Aspen, CO; West Side Story in both Scottsdale, AZ, and at Yale; and Three Dance Episodes from On The Town in Flower Mound, TX!
Bernstein music is really getting around this year – and in large part it’s thanks to youth orchestras and educational institutions. All of the performances mentioned above, along with many, many others, are being presented by youth ensembles worldwide.
Speaking personally, I’m extra thrilled to see this robust Bernstein presence among young musicians. My siblings and our team at the Bernstein Office had been actively preoccupied with a recent report we received, asserting that today’s young musicians at conservatories and universities were unlikely to know much about Leonard Bernstein – beyond, probably, West Side Story – nor did they know why his deeply humanitarian approach to music-making matters more than ever. I was so dismayed by this report that I decided to create a presentation tailored for young musicians: “Leonard Bernstein: Citizen Artist.” I’ve been taking this talk, along with its accompanying slide show of fun photos and video clips, to young musicians around the world. (There was such a demand for this presentation that I soon adapted it for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.) So I’m keenly pleased to see that, if all these youth orchesetra performances are any indication, there are many more young musicians who know about Bernstein than we had originally thought.
The best way to know about Bernstein is to listen to his own music – and the very best way to enjoy it is to be able to play it. These young performers are lucky, indeed.
And their audiences are very lucky as well. In August, I had the enormous good fortune to catch a couple of concerts that were part of an ambitious, multinational youth orchestra festival presented by Carnegie Hall: World Orchestra Week (WOW).
I was able to attend two of the many concerts that took place in that grand auditorium. In the first one, the Louisville Symphony’s superb conductor, Teddy Abrams, led the NYO2 orchestra – top players from around the US – in Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. I’ve always thought my dad deliberately and joyfully composed challenges – fugues, complex rhythmic patterns, surprise dissonances – for the express purpose of giving orchestral players opportunities to dig in. If only he could have seen this orchestra digging into the “Cool” fugue, the crashing syncopations of “The Rumble,” the heartbreaking attenuations of the final “Somewhere” chords… This young, passionate orchestra dug in, for sure – with thrilling results.
>
Then, the next night, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the current iteration of the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela. How did these very young persons access the nuance, the range, the emotional depth to perform Shostakovich Symphony no. 5, and knock it out of the park?! I just don't know how the hell they do it.
And then, after all the extra bows, the high-fives in the orchestra, the continuous whooping and hollering in the house, Gustavo jumped back up on the podium, and sure enough – they launched into their iconic encore: “Mambo” from West Side Story.
And there it was, the full circle: I remembered watching the YouTube video of that “Mambo” encore at the London Proms -- was it 15 years ago? More...? And that was how it all began: the orchestra's fame, El Sistema as a global movement, and my own enormous excitement. And now, here was a fresh batch of kids from Venezuela, blowing the roof off Carnegie Hall… and how perfectly great that Bernstein music got to tie the bow on that whole unforgettable night.
I’m certain that nothing could have made the composer happier than to know that his works are being so lovingly performed by young people all over the world.