Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

Bio

Leonard Bernstein was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard in 1939. He studied at the Curtis Institute and then the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. He was Koussevitsky's assistant and then Rodzinski's with the New York Symphony Orchestra. He eventually took over and in 1969 was named the Laureate Conductor for Life by the NYSO. He won 11 Emmys, a Tony, 17 Grammys, the Lifetime Achievement Grammy, and the Kennedy Center Honor. In many ways, he is the epitome of the celebrity conductor.