ABOUT

“A look at the after-hours maestro [that] revealed his mischievous personality and musical predilections …

the audience filled the room with lusty laughs and applause.”

— The New York Times

A well-known insomniac for whom night was a time for creativity and friendship, deep introspection and revelry, the iconic Leonard Bernstein loved

to work at all hours, often entertaining friends and guests late into the night and dazzling them with charismatic performances across a wide range of

musical styles. Late Night with Leonard Bernstein – hosted by his daughter Jamie and featuring acclaimed soprano Amy Burton and pianists John

Musto and Michael Boriskin – is an affectionate, multi-media portrait of the personal side of this singularly public figure. This vibrant evening

captivated sold-out audiences at Lincoln Center and Copland House when it first opened, and has continued to enchant concertgoers in Boston,

Charleston, Buffalo, Macon, and other cities around the U.S.

The program traces Bernstein’s journey back to his years as a prodigiously-gifted undergraduate who loved jazz, classics, and thorny modernists with

equal passion, and his early efforts as an aspiring composer and arranger of musicals, dance, and pop novelties. Several of his most intimate works

are performed, along with some of his favorite compositions by Copland, Schubert, Grieg, Zez Confrey, Noel Coward, Ernesto Lecuona, and others.

Brief audio and video excerpts of the Maestro himself are among the program’s many highlights. The entire evening is woven together through Jamie

Bernstein’s personal, affecting script, and a video slide slow of rare photographs of the legendary artist and his family, friends, and colleagues. As

The New York Times noted, “here were lots of little surprises … early bits of aborted projects that later surfaced, re-imagined, in famous works like

West Side Story and Mass; a tongue-twisting parody [of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony] by Bernstein‘s buddy Adolph Green; a film clip of Bernstein

at the piano, singing a Marc Blitzstein novelty number.”

PERFORMERS

Jamie Bernstein, host Amy Burton, soprano John Musto, piano Michael Boriskin, piano

INSTRUMENTATION & STAGING

2 pianos, soprano, host/narrator

audio, video, and still photography playback

minimal stage props to create the ambience of a living room

DURATION

Evening Length Show, ca. 75 minutes plus intermission

PERFORMANCES (partial list)

Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center (Fort Myers, FL)

February 24, 2017

Silver Center at Plymouth State University (Plymouth, NH)

April 13, 2017

New York Philharmonic (NYC)

October 24, 2017

Green Music Center, Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, CA)

December 1, 2017

Festival of the Arts Boca (Boca Raton, FL)

February 27, 2018

UVM Lane Series, University of Vermont (Burlington, VT)

March 23, 2018

Brandeis University (Waltham, MA)

April 19, 2018

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA)

April 21, 2018

Gilmore Keyboard Festival (Kalamazoo, MI)

May 3, 2018

Tri-C Classical Piano Series, Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland,

OH)

May 6, 2018

Phillips Collection (Washington, DC)

May 20, 2018

Ravinia Festival (Highland Park, IL)

July 27, 2018

La Jolla Music Society (La Jolla, CA)

August 8, 2018

…forthcoming dates in the U.S., Canada, and U.K. Photo: Richard Bowditch

PRESS

Read full article here: http://issuu.com/maconartsalliance/docs/ovationsfebmarch13__1_

Read full article here: http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2013/april/bernsteinnight.html

Leonard Bernstein's daughter shares his music, story in Fort Myers Charles Runnells , The News-Press Published 8:01 a.m. ET Feb. 14, 2017 | Updated 5:29 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2017

Leonard Bernstein (left) and his children Jamie and Alex in an undated photo from the late 50s or

early 60s. (Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Jamie Bernstein knew her dad, Leonard Bernstein, was famous. She just didn’t know how famous. Then, at about age 11, she heard his name on an episode of the cartoon “The Flintstones.” Or, rather, a parody version of his name: The story involved a concert at the “Hollyrock Bowl” conducted by the one and only “Leonard Bernstone.” That’s when she knew. “Boy,” Jamie Bernstein says, “that’s when we realized our dad had really hit the big time!” Decades later, Jamie Bernstein knows just about everything there is to know about her late father, his career and his celebrated works such as “Candide” and the musical “West Side Story.” She’ll talk about all that and more on Friday, Feb. 24, when she narrates the critically acclaimed “Late Night with Leonard Bernstein” at Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers. The multimedia cabaret concert features acclaimed soprano Amy Burton and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin performing the conductor/composer's most famous pieces and some of his favorite music, including classical works by Copland, Confrey, Coward, Schubert and Chopin.

The show gets its title from Leonard Bernstein’s famous insomnia. He often stayed up until 4 or 5 a.m. writing music, and then he’d sleep until the following afternoon. “He just didn’t sleep,” says Jamie Bernstein, 64, of New York City. “It’s amazing how much you can get done if you don’t sleep! “He was the kind of person who had an engine that couldn’t be shut off. He was just going all the time and his mind was just clicking away.” Leonard Bernstein, who died in 1990, would often play works in progress for Jamie Bernstein and her siblings — not his most famous pieces from the 1950s, such as “Candide” or “West Side Story" (the kids were too young), but later works such as “Mass” in 1971. Jamie and her brother and sister would sit around the piano as their dad played his latest inspiration. Then he'd ask them what they thought. She still cherishes those moments. “What could be more special?” she says. “And it made us have a more emotional involvement in the piece.” Now Jamie Bernstein does what she can to keep her dad’s legacy alive and make sure people don’t forget about “Candide,” “Mass” and “West Side Story” (which director Steven Spielberg has announced plans to remake). Younger people don’t know Bernstein as well as their parents and grandparents do, she says. So she hopes her traveling show inspires a few people to dig deeper and give his work a listen. Still, she says, it’s inspiring that so many fans turn out every night to see “Late Night with Leonard Bernstein.” It shows that he won’t likely be forgotten anytime soon. “I love sharing stories about my dad,” she says. “And I love that people still remember him and his contributions.”

CONTACT For more information about this program, please contact Dworkin & Company:

Elizabeth Dworkin at (914) 244-3803, elizabeth@dworkincompany.com

Allison Weissman at (347) 642-0386, allison@dworkincompany.com

For more info about Copland House, visit www.coplandhouse.org.

Cover Photo: Ruth Orkin. © 1977. Bernstein Photo Gallery, 1950-1953; Library of Congress, Music Division