Kraut invited the IU Opera Department to do a one-month tour of Bernstein's opera Trouble in Tahiti in Israel to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bernstein's first conducting in Israel.
"These gifts are priceless."īernstein's history with the IU Jacobs School of Musicīernstein had a long-standing relationship with the Jacobs School of Music that began in the early 1970s, when Jacobs Dean Emeritus Charles Webb received a call from Bernstein's manager, the late Harry Kraut. "He led the international orchestra in Berlin during the collapse of the Berlin wall, and the collection contains a piece of the Berlin Wall that he signed," added Melissa Korzec, associate director of development at the Jacobs School. The extraordinary items contained in the gift sum up the legacy he has left behind, that of perhaps the greatest American conductor and composer."Īdditional items in the collection include 39 Grammy nomination plaques and a rocking chair. While nearly every item has a story behind it - for example, the conducting stool traditionally thought to be used by Brahms, given to Bernstein by the Vienna Philharmonic on the event of his 70th birthday - my most exciting moments were when I unpacked one of his batons, and then a pencil and ruler that were with some blank manuscript paper. Said Phil Ponella, director of the William and Gayle Cook Music Library and director of Music Information Technology Services at Jacobs, of the collection, "There is nothing like standing in front of Leonard Bernstein's standup composing desk with blank paper, visualizing how he might have composed. To be able to recreate a space in which he functioned, for the world to see, will be a remarkable educational experience." "The significance of his legacy is profound. "Leonard Bernstein was one of the greatest classical musicians of the 20th century and the first American conductor to have an international career," said Urquhart. Webb Say Goodnight (dedicated to Dean Emeritus Charles and Kenda Webb) Mass Divertimento his ballet Dybbuk the opera A Quiet Place and Songfest, among many others. During that time, Bernstein wrote his "Harvard Norton Lectures" and composed several of his best-known works: Kaddish, his third symphony Halil Arias and Barcarolles, which includes Mr. This will coincide with the announcement of the upcoming IU Opera and Ballet Theater 2009-2010 season.Ĭraig Urquhart, vice president of public relations and promotion for The Leonard Bernstein Office, said Bernstein's Fairfield studio was one of just two studios where he composed during the last 30 years of his life (the other was in New York City). Selected items from the collection will also go on display for a few weeks in the lobby of the Musical Arts Center this spring. Following planning for the Jacobs School's new North Faculty Studio Building and consultation with the Bernstein family on the arrangement and appearance of the studio, a location will be announced.īernstein's Fairfield, Conn., composing studio Most of the contents of the room will be available for students, faculty and the general public, who can examine the items that surrounded the great composer during a significant portion of his career and read through books and music scores that were given to the Jacobs School as part of separate gifts from the Bernstein family. The space will also be used as a teaching studio for distinguished guests. The Jacobs School plans to create a Leonard Bernstein Studio that will contain the items of the Leonard Bernstein Studio Collection in substantially the same arrangement as they existed in Bernstein's Fairfield, Conn., studio. We cannot imagine a more fitting home for this exciting new presentation of Leonard Bernstein's working life." On one of his first trips to Bloomington, he said, 'I have to report that I've fallen in love with the school.' My sisters, Jamie and Nina, join me in celebrating the continuation of this relationship by literally bringing together two places in which he was happiest working. "He adored the institution and became close to the dean, faculty and, of course, students. "My father's artistic and educational connection with Indiana University was profound," said Leonard's son, Alexander Bernstein. "In a real sense, Leonard Bernstein connected with our school and its leadership, and it is thrilling to know that the link with Indiana continues and is strengthened through this remarkable gesture."
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"We are honored to receive this gift, which follows a rich collaborative and professional relationship between the Bernstein family and the Jacobs School that began in the early 1970s," said Gwyn Richards, dean of the Jacobs School of Music.
Leonard Bernstein directs Indiana University students in 1982.