Ravinia Festival

Leonard Bernstein's biographers have noted that he always felt frustrated that his incredible celebrity as a conductor eclipsed the recognition that he deserved as a composer. Certainly no conductor of the 20th century cut a more glamorous figure or so strongly dominated the media. His landmark Young People's Concerts on television introduced an entire generation of Baby Boomers to the world of classical music, and he virtually single-handedly converted Gustav Mahler's image from a marginal 19th-century composer to one of the most important symphonists in the entire repertoire.

Perhaps Bernstein never attained the "serious composer" image he longed for because he was so successful in so many genres and mastered so many styles. He composed sonatas, symphonies, film scores (On the Waterfront), religious choral works, ballets, song cycles and, perhaps most memorable in the public's mind, Broadway musicals, including one of the greatest every created--West Side Story. That work alone would ensure Bernstein's reputation as a composer, but while that one work has become familiar to virtually everyone, his symphonic music are nowhere near as well known. His Symphony No. 1 ("Jeremiah") has been performed at Ravinia only five times since the composer himself introduced it here in 1944 (only one year after it had been composed); No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety") has been presented here only twice before (by Bernstein in 1956 and in 1967 by his protégé Seiji Ozawa during the last of his three summers as Ravinia's music director); and No. 3 ("Kaddish") has been heard at Ravinia only once, in 1967, again under Ozawa.

More than nearly any other composer, Bernstein deserves the epithet "eclectic," mixing influences from jazz, Tin Pan Alley, 19th-century Romanticism and 20th-century modernism. During the 1960's he embraced the new vitality of rock and pop music, although his enthusiasm for it had diminished considerably by the time he delivered his great valedictory statement, The Norton Lectures at Harvard University, in 1973.

Named after a work by Charles Ives, Bernstein's lecture series contemplated The Unanswered Question, which he interpreted as "Whither music?" The future of music, especially in view of the crisis serious music was facing in the conflict regarding the continuing or abandoning of tonality, was a paramount consideration to Bernstein, both as a conductor whose programming choices so strongly influenced the public, and as a composer. The works Bernstein has left us clearly demonstrates that while he is not unwilling to challenge his listeners, his music was always intended to be heard by the audiences for whom he conducted so many other masterworks. He never composed music that was beyond the comprehension of ordinary music lovers, never abandoned current listeners with the hope that some vague posterity would finally "understand" him. Music, for him, was a living, breathing entity in the present, and his music still lives, breathes and delights audiences around the world.

Leif Bjaland	BERNSTEIN'S NEW YORK, NEW YORK Sunday, June 22 * 7pm CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA All Bernstein Program: Selections from On the Town, Wonderful Town, West Side Story
Leif Bjaland

Cnristopher Tainton	ESCHENBACH AND HIS RISING STARS Sunday, July 27 * 7pm CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 ("Jeremiah") Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3
Cnristopher Tainton

Leon Fleisher	BERNSTEIN AND BEETHOVEN Friday, August 1 * 8pm CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish") Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor")
Leon Fleisher

Lang Lang	ESCHENBACH, LANG LANG AND TAYLOR Sunday, August 10 * 7pm CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mozart: Rondo in D Major Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 Bernstein: Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety")
Lang Lang

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Ravinia Festival 2003 has created a compelling mix of time-honored classics with provocative, exciting new work! Click here for special Season Highlights!