Other

BBC World Service Online

The Documentary

Documentaries

Factual

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

The Documentary: Leonard Bernstein and Me

Leonard Bernstein

21/08/2018 GMT

Leonard Bernstein and Me

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Leonard Bernstein and Me

Personal recollections of the legendary American conductor and composer

Personal recollections of the legendary American conductor and composer on the centenary of his birth.

Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein is perhaps the most influential American musician of all time. A champion of cultural inclusivity, he tore down musical barriers to declare the symphony hall open to all and offered the classical music world a dynamic new model of what a maestro could be.
 
As a conductor he achieved early worldwide acclaim, as a composer his work defied genre divisions and brought him popular and critical success, notably with his most well-known work West Side Story. As an educator, he opened up the world of classical music to generations of American children through his long running series of television lectures.

On the centenary of his birth, musician and broadcaster Jon Tolansky meets the people who continue to be inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s all-embracing approach to music and life and who are now breaking down boundaries themselves. He hears personal recollections from his son Alexander Bernstein as well as former pupils and world class musicians Marin Alsop, Thomas Hampson, Jason Robert Brown and David Charles Abell.
 
Jon also speaks to Bernstein fans Elizabeth TeSelle, Kathy Anderson and Ivan Rodrigues, none of whom knew him personally, but for whom he has had a life-changing effect.

Photo: Leonard Bernstein

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Documentary

Leonard Bernstein and Me

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service