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It’s fun to explore
Bernstein’s
songwriting
because you can
see where he’s
going later with his
theater music
.
–Kevin Murphy
“
Pianist Kevin Murphy (left), director of the RSMI Program for Singers, toured with a quartet of recent alumni, including soprano Cadie Jordan (right), to the
Tucson Desert Song Festival this winter presenting a program mixing Leonard Bernstein’s concert and theater songs as well as works by Bernstein passions
Mahler, Ives, and Copland, providing a preview of his two-year traversal of Bernstein’s complete songs with RSMI during Ravinia’s summer season.
T
his year marks the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth.
Certainly one of America’s most famous musicians, Bernstein is o en mentioned in the same
breath as Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and Charles Ives—and deservedly so. His ascent
to the apex of American culture was swi , and his triumphs many. e centenary of any great
musician’s birth inspires a consideration of their works great and small, and Bernstein le plenty of
both. His catalogue of songs provides a perfect cross-section of the attention he lavished upon all of
his music, so in celebration of both its th anniversary and Bernstein’s
th, Ravinia’s Steans Music
Insitute is presenting his complete songs over two seasons as part of the festival’s multi-year salute to
his legacy, starting with a free matinee concert on August . His large-scale vocal-writing prowess has
already been highlighted by performances of his
Chichester Psalms
and
Mass
with the Chicago Sym-
phony Orchestra earlier this summer, and another orchestral-vocal example closes the ensemble’s
residency on August : the “Jeremiah” Symphony, featuring mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges.
Growing up, Lenny Bernstein had an eccentric aunt.
“Crazy Clara,” as she was known to the family, was a nudist, a
sun-worshipper, a vegetarian, an exercise faddist, and, most
important, a lover of music. It was Aunt Clara who gave the
Bernsteins their rst piano. Lenny was all of when the
mahogany upright arrived at the family home. “I remember
touching this thing the day it arrived, just stroking it and going
mad. I knew, from that moment, that music was ‘it.’ ere was
no question in my mind that my life was to be about music.”
And his life truly was about music. Before time claimed him
in
, he’d achieved greatness as a composer, conductor, pi-
anist, and educator. He le us with numerous masterpieces for
the stage—
West Side Story
,
On the Town
,
Wonderful Town
, and
Candide
, as well as three major ballets,
Fancy Free
,
Facsimile
,
and
Dybbuk
—and several symphonic works, among them
three titled symphonies: “Jeremiah,” “ e Age of Anxiety,” and
“Kaddish.” He was the winner of numerous Emmy Awards as
an educator who could explain “sonata-allegro form” to school-
children and have them understand it. He was also the music
director of the New York Philharmonic from
to
.
“Bernstein is synonymous with American music,” says
Kevin Murphy, director of the Program for Singers at RSMI.
“He’s part of our nation’s musical fabric.” Indeed, he is. How
many Americans haven’t listened to
West Side Story
or at least
hummed the tunes “Maria” and “Tonight”?
While Bernstein le us with several widely acknowledged
masterpieces, there are still more. “I think we sometimes
neglect his other music—music besides what he wrote for the
PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA (RSMI)
AUGUST 6 – AUGUST 19, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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