“Late Night with Leonard Bernstein” — a conversation with his daughter Jamie
I
n a year when arts organizations across the globe have looked back on the life of Leonard Bernstein, it’s easy to lose sight of what his centennial might mean to one of his own children.
Jamie Bernstein will give a personal look at the maestro, composer, pianist, and father in “Late Night with Leonard Bernstein” this Sunday, May 6 at 2:00 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, as part of the Tri-C Classical Piano Series.
“It provides an all-around portrait of my dad, which you wouldn’t necessarily get in a more traditional concert of his works,” Jamie said during a phone interview. “As I say in my narration, it’s like a guided tour inside my father’s insomniac brain. And it has some fun surprises in it too.”
Helping to paint that portrait will be soprano Amy Burton and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin. Part music and part storytelling, the free program will draw on audio and film clips, works by Lenny himself, and some of his favorite pieces by other composers: Aaron Copland, Zez Confrey, Noel Coward, Franz Schubert, and Edvard Grieg.
One question Jamie gets asked all the time: what was it was like to grow up with a famous dad? For the long answer, she’s releasing a book in June, Famous Father Girl. “The title is taken from what my 2nd-grade classmate used to call me to tease me.”
I closed our conversation by asking the engaging Jamie Bernstein if she ever practices public speaking for her narration. “You know, I never have,” she said. Even for the very first project? “For reasons I cannot explain, it felt completely natural. It was just a thing I could do — so there you go.”
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