Boston Pops Pays Tribute to Leonard Bernstein Tonight
Orchestra marks composer’s centennial with a concert at Symphony Hall
American composer and maestro Leonard Bernstein performing with the Boston Pops, June 6, 1989. Tonight the Boston Pops will perform a program of music by Bernstein in honor of the centennial of his birth. Photo by Donald Dietz
Few 20th-century musicians were as prolific and influential as Leonard Bernstein. A renowned composer, conductor, and pianist, Bernstein wrote symphonic pieces, among them three symphonies and numerous chamber and solo works, Broadway scores (Wonderful Town, Peter Pan, Candide, and West Side Story), operas, and film scores (On the Waterfront). His television lectures on classical music beginning in the 1950s were hugely popular.
This year marks the centennial of Bernstein’s birth, and the Boston Pops is celebrating with two special concerts tonight and tomorrow at Symphony Hall.
It’s especially fitting that the Pops host a Bernstein centennial tribute: it was with the Pops on July 11, 1941, that Bernstein made his debut with a professional orchestra. He would remain closely identified with the Pops and the Boston Symphony Orchestra until his death in 1990. A protégé of legendary BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky, Bernstein first performed with the BSO at Symphony Hall on February 18, 1944.
Both tonight’s and Wednesday night’s concerts will be led by Pops conductor Keith Lockhart (Hon.’04) and will feature a wide variety of Bernstein’s work, including selections from Candide and West Side Story, performed by several prominent vocalists. The evening should be a highlight of the 2018 Pops season.
The BSO has put together a timeline about Leonard Bernstein’s life and work, with details of his life from his birth in 1918 in nearby Lawrence, Mass., through his final concert in 1990.
The Boston Pops Leonard Bernstein Centennial Tribute is tonight, Tuesday, May 29, and tomorrow, Wednesday, May 30, both at 8 pm at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston. Tickets range from $30 to $96. Purchase tickets and find more information here.
Alex Pena can be reached at alexgp97@bu.edu.
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