Leonard Bernstein, a composer, pianist, and conductor, was born in 1918 to Russian immigrants in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He learned to play the piano as a child and went on to Harvard University to study music, where he met Aaron Copland, whose works he performed and conducted and whose style he was deeply influenced by. Bernstein went to the Curtis Institute after receiving his undergraduate degree in 1939, and Serge Koussevitzky, then the conductor of the Boston Symphony, instructed him in conducting at Tanglewood for the next two summers.
Leonard Bernstein joined Koussevitzky’s staff in 1942 and was named assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1943. Bernstein rose to prominence after filling in for the scheduled conductor when he fell ill in November of the same year. His first symphony was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra three months later, and it went on to win the New York Music Critics’ Circle award for Best American Work of the Year.
Today, Leonard Bernstein is best known for his music for dance, musicals, and theater, including the 1944 ballet Fancy Free and the musical On the Town. He also composed music for Trouble in Tahiti, West Side Story, and On the Waterfront. After Koussevitzky’s death in 1951, he became a professor of music at Brandeis University and succeeded Koussevitzky as head of Tanglewood’s conducting and orchestra departments.
Leonard Bernstein was named music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, making him the first American-born conductor to do so. He inaugurated Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center, now known as Avery Fisher Hall, and introduced the thematically organized Young People’s Concerts, which were televised. He held the position until 1969, when he was named the laureate conductor for life. Later in his career, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and led a memorable performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Bernstein has received numerous honors and awards, including 11 Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime Contributions to American Culture Through the Performing Arts, and numerous other awards. In 1990, he passed away.