Leonard Bernstein Biography

Fast Facts

• Held the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor at the New York Philharmonic and led more concerts there during his 11-year tenure than any previous conductor
• Was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1985
• Graduated from Harvard University, where he trained with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A․ Tillman Merritt, in 1939
• Also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Boston Symphony's summer institute, Tanglewood
• Made his conducting debut on "The Birds" and later directed and performed in "The Cradle Will Rock․"
• Was appointed as the music director of the New York City Symphony Orchestra in 1945 and was later a visiting music professor at Brandeis University in the 1950s
• Got his first permanent conducting post as the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1943
• Best known as a composer, conductor, and pianist who served as the music director of the New York Philharmonic for several years
• Became the first American to conduct an opera at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1953, when he conducted Cherubini's "Medea" starring Maria Callas
• Founded the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival and the Pacific Music Festival