The Library of Congress continues to celebrate Leonard Bernstein’s Centennial with events this Friday and Saturday, all free and open to the public:
FRIDAY, MAY 18
Bernstein Centennial Concert
Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building
8:00pm
RUSH tickets available starting Friday at 6:00pm
Michael Barrett, Music Director and pianist
Lee Ann Osterkamp, pianist
Julia Bullock, soprano
Amy Owens, soprano
Martin Luther Clark, tenor
Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo soprano
Adrian Rosas, bass-baritone
The Library’s vast Leonard Bernstein Collection provides the world’s best vantage point to contemplate the career of this extraordinary man: composer, conductor, pianist, educator, and humanitarian. We see Bernstein as social observer, revealed in three major stage works. His musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue portrays sharp racial divides over 100 years of White House history. The operas Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place paint a vision of a family’s struggles—and offer a glimpse of reconciliation. There will also be moments of discovery, with a few extraordinarily rare, still-unknown songs you won’t hear anywhere else—including the original version of the Finale of Trouble in Tahiti!
SATURDAY, MAY 19
Bernstein’s America: Celebrating the Collection
Centennial Minifest
Montpelier Room, James Madison Building
11:00am-5:00pm
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE and will also be available onsite at the Library throughout the day.
Feel the Bernstein: dive into our special, day-long program, an immersive experience anchored by an extensive display of manuscripts, letters, playbills, photographs and memorabilia, sketches, casting notes, and designs. The day will include informal talks by Music Division curators, video clips from Bernstein’s lectures and educational shows, a #Declassified presentation on “Bernstein and Social Identity,” and plenty of interesting revelations: fascinating stories, notes, and cut songs from On the Town, West Side Story and Candide, with pianist Jon Kalbfleisch and a team of singers on hand for musical vignettes.
We cordially invite you to sample treasures from our Leonard Bernstein Collection, which includes over 400,000 items given to the Library of Congress by the composer and his family since 1953.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
11:00 am – Opening with #DECLASSIFIED: “Bernstein and Social Identity,” Nicholas A. Brown, Director of Special Productions & Initiatives, Washington Performing Arts
12:00 pm – “Bernstein’s Music for Piano,” Leann Osterkamp, pianist
1:00 pm – BREAK
1:30 pm – “Perspectives on Candide,” James Wintle, Music Division
2:15 pm – “On the Town: From the Bronx to the Battery to Broadway,” Janet McKinney, Music Division
3:00 pm – “West Side Stories,” Cait Miller, Music Division
Cut songs from Candide, On the Town and West Side Story will be performed by Jon Kalbfleisch & friends!
3:45 pm – BREAK
4:00 pm – “The Leonard Bernstein Collection, or What It’s Like to Handle Almost Every Piece of Paper Bernstein Touched – All 400,000+ of Them!” Mark Eden Horowitz, Music Division
Patrons are enthusiastically encouraged to drop by for all or part of this day-long marathon!
We hope to see you at one of our weekend events, but don’t forget that you can explore our Leonard Bernstein Collection online (see our recent blog post for more information)!