Event Videos

The Library of Congress has hosted numerous guests ranging from creative artists with connections to Bernstein to scholars discussing his works and career. The videos on this page include interviews, lectures, and concerts; these events are available to view on the Library's Event Videos page and/or the Library's YouTube Channel External. Search both platforms to find additional relevant lectures.

Interviews

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. In the video below, Mark Horowitz speaks with music director Michael Barrett and Jamie Bernstein in a pre-concert interview about the life and legacy of Leonard Bernstein as part of the Library's celebration of Bernstein's centennial. The discussion includes details behind the concert program presented the same evening. (Event date: May 18, 2018)

Interview with Charlie Harmon
An in depth interview with Charlie Harmon, Leonard Bernstein's assistant and archivist for the last several years of the composer's life. Topics include Bernstein composing the opera "A Quiet Place," the album he conducted of "West Side Story," his relationship with family, friends and colleagues including Aaron Copland, and anecdotes both professional and personal. (Event date: June 6, 2017)
Working (and Not Working) with Bernstein
Composer Jack Gottlieb, author of the memoir "Working with Bernstein," discusses his own role as a fellow composer, especially in light of being so closely tied to Bernstein. (Event date: December 11, 2010)
Interview with Leonard Slatkin
Conductor Leonard Slatkin discussed his career, the future of orchestras and community engagement, arts education and the Leonard Bernstein Centennial, in conjunction with the release of his book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians and the Music Industry. (Event date: November 02, 2017)
**Brief discussion about Bernstein starts around the 31:50 mark. More discussion of Bernstein's Songfest starts at the 57:30 mark.
Composer John Adams Reads from His Autobiography
Composer John Adams reads from his autobiography, Hallelujah Junction, and includes additional anecdotes from his life. He speaks about his parents, his first music lessons with his father, the joy he found in listening to recorded classical and jazz music as a child. Heavily influenced by West Coast writers, he and his wife moved to California, the landscape of which would influence his compositions. His experiences teaching music at the San Francisco Conservatory allowed for experimentation and performances of his works. Adams also reads a letter he wrote to Leonard Bernstein as a precocious music student at Harvard University and Bernstein's reply that are both part of the Library of Congress' Leonard Bernstein collection. (Event date: May 14, 2010)
**Adams starts discussing Bernstein at the 38:50 mark.

Lectures

To celebrate the centennial of Leonard Bernstein in 2018, the Library held a special, day-long event; an immersive experience anchored by an extensive display of manuscripts, letters, playbills, photographs and memorabilia, sketches, casting notes and designs. As part of this special event, Mark Eden Horowitz spoke about working with the Library's vast Leonard Bernstein Collection and offered some insight into the scope of the collection by sharing some selections from the archives. (Event date: May 19, 2018)

Celebrating the Collection #Declassified: Bernstein and Social Identity
As part of the Library's Bernstein Centennial event, Nicholas Alexander Brown spoke about the composer's life and career. Bernstein practiced what Brown referred to as "engaged musical citizenship," using his voice and position to support or oppose contentious social issues in America between the 1940s and 1980s. Highlighting special collection items from the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress, Brown explored Bernstein's views on race, gender roles, politics, social class, and the dichotomy between public and private identities through Bernstein's long relationship with the Kennedy family and two of his rarely-performed works, "Songfest" and "Trouble in Tahiti". (Event date: May 19. 2018)
Celebrating the Collection: Bernstein's Music for Piano
Pianist and educator Leann Osterkamp discussed Bernstein's piano works, including what each piece reveals about his compositional process and the biographical and historical context in which he wrote the music. During the lecture, included on a day-long program of events celebrating Bernstein's centennial, Osterkamp performed several of Bernstein's rarely-heard early piano music, included pieces from the Library of Congress' Leonard Bernstein Collection that remain unpublished. (Event date: May 19. 2019)
Celebrating the Collection: "On the Town"
As part of the Library's Bernstein Centennial event, Janet McKinney of the Music Division spoke about the creation of On the Town, discussing the major figures involved in its production. McKinney also looked at earlier drafts of lyrics and music that didn't make the final show, with examples performed by soprano Tracy Olivera and pianist Jon Kalbfleisch. (Event date: May 19, 2018)
Celebrating the Collection: "Perspectives on Candide"
As part of the Library's Bernstein Centennial event in 2018, James Wintle of the Music Division spoke about the origins of Bernstein's Candide and early drafts of material found in the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress. Pianist Jon Kalbfleisch and tenor Benjamin Pattison performed several of these early versions. (Event date: May 19. 2018)
Celebrating the Collection: "West Side Stories"
As part of the Library's Bernstein Centennial event, the Music Division's Cait Miller gave a presentation showcasing materials from the Library of Congress's Bernstein Collection relating to West Side Story. She focused on material that was cut from or changed in the final version of the show. Her presentation included performances of several examples from the collection. (Event date: May 19, 2018)
West Side Story: The Creation of a Classic
Senior Music Specialist Mark Horowitz presents on the creation of the 1957 musical West Side Story, drawing on materials from the Leonard Bernstein Collection, Arthur Laurents Papers, and Oliver Smith Papers to illustrate his talk. After his presentation, Music Reference Specialist Cait Miller highlights digitized West Side Story materials in the Leonard Bernstein Digital Collection and connects attendees with relevant research guides. The webinar wraps up with a Question and Answer session led by Music Archivist Janet McKinney.
Bernstein Conducting Himself
In Leonard Bernstein's centennial celebration, Daniel Callahan delves into the under-explored realm of the physicality of Bernstein's conducting practices, including the role of sexuality from Bernstein's and his critics' perspectives. Additionally, the carefully crafted choreography of Bernstein's conducting will be supported by documentation from unpublished films and materials from the Leonard Bernstein Collection in the Library of Congress. (Event date: May 15, 2018)
A Hint of West Side Story: The Genesis of Chichester Psalms as Seen in the Leonard Bernstein Collection
Musicologist Paul Laird discusses "The Genesis of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms as Seen in the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection," as part of the Library of Congress and American Musicological Society lecture series. (Event date: April 14, 2015)
10,000 Intimate Friends: Leonard Bernstein's Life in Letters
Musicologist Nigel Simeone speaks about his book, The Leonard Bernstein Letters, including 650 letters spanning Bernstein's adolescence to the end of his life that provide a rare glimpse into the more private side of the great conductor and composer. (Event date: October 29, 2013)
Bernstein Meets Broadway
Esteemed musicologist Carol J. Oja traces Bernstein's composer-activism back to "On the Town" of 1944, which was his first Broadway show and grew out of a fruitful collaboration with Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins. Produced with a racially integrated cast during WWII, On the Town crossed race lines boldly, and it did so in an era when racial segregation held firm yet faced increasing resistance. In the historical literature about Broadway, the show's racial advances have been ignored. Fusing musical and cultural history, this lecture draws upon manuscripts for "On the Town" in the Bernstein Collection to explore political activism embedded in the show, as well as to consider Bernstein's early fascination with the blues. (Event date: February 07, 2011)

Concerts

The following video is a performance from the Library's 2018 Bernstein Centennial celebration called "Bernstein's America" (follow the link to see the program listing with timings). 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 are also moments of discovery, with a few extraordinarily rare, still-unknown songs you won't hear anywhere else. Senior Music Specialist Mark Eden Horowitz served as artistic advisor and co-producer for the concert. The event was introduced by Susan Vita, Chief of the Music Division, and Jamie Bernstein. (Event date: May 18. 2018)

Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

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Event Videos

Interviews

Lectures

Concerts