Leonard Bernstein

Composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, thinker, and adventurous spirit, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) transformed the way Americans and people everywhere hear and appreciate music. Bernstein's successes as a composer ranged from the Broadway stage - West Side Story, On the Town, Wonderful Town, and Candide - to concert halls all over the world, where his orchestral and choral music continues to thrive. His major concert works include three symphonies - subtitled Jeremiah (1944), The Age of Anxiety (1949), and Kaddish (1963) - as well as Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (1949); Serenade for Violin, Strings and Percussion (1954); Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1960); Chichester Psalms (1965); Mass: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers (1971); Songfest (1977); Divertimento for Orchestra (1980); Halil for Solo Flute and Small Orchestra (1981); Touches (1981) and Thirteen Anniversaries (1988) for solo piano; Missa Brevis for Singers and Percussion (1988); Concerto for Orchestra: Jubilee Games (1989); and Arias and Barcarolles (1988). Bernstein also wrote the one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti in 1952, and its sequel, the three-act opera A Quiet Place, in 1983. He collaborated with choreographer Jerome Robbins on three major ballets - Fancy Free (1944), Facsimile (1946), and Dybbuk (1975). He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for On the Waterfront (1954).