The Bernstein Surprise
1943 AD
1943 1943
73.50W41.50N
MUS

NEW YORK, NEW YORK
	The audience groaned.
	The disappointed people had come that day in 1943 to hear guest conductor Bruno Walter lead the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a nationally broadcast performance -- but Walter was sick. Furthermore, Artur Rodzinski, the regular conductor, was on vacation. The only available conductor was Rodzinski's assistant, Leonard Bernstein.
	Bernstein stood up, a bit nervous at first, but as the music began to flow, he forgot the audience and delivered a spectacular performance. When he finished, the surprised and delighted audience gave him a standing ovation. Bernstein became famous overnight!
	Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, grew up in Boston, then graduated from Harvard in 1939. In 1958, he became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, the first American-born and trained musician to hold that important position.
	During his lifetime he conducted more than 400 recorded performances and won nine Emmy Awards and 13 Grammy Awards. He was also acclaimed for his Young People's Concerts, which introduced many children to the wonders and beauty of music. His most famous composition is the American musical classic, West Side Story, which he wrote in 1957.
	Shortly after the Berlin Wall in Germany was torn down in 1989, Bernstein was invited to perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at Christmas time on both sides of the Wall. He used choral singers and orchestral musicians from all the countries allied against Germany in the Second World War. It may have been the mightiest performance ever of Beethoven's famous symphony.
	For Bernstein, music was more than a job, or even a love, it was his life. Bernstein once said, "I can't live one day without hearing music, without playing it, studying it, or thinking about it!"
