Nostalgic Leonard Bernstein Evening Delights SummerFest Fans
By Barry Jagoda
SummerFest, La Jolla’s world-class music festival, presents many different faces for loyal audiences—including for some attendees who may visit only for a time or two each August. For lovers of contemporary American music nothing could exceed “Late Night with Leonard Bernstein,” which delighted and, even thrilled, a packed house at UC San Diego’s Prebys Concert Hall on Wednesday. Those in attendance will not forget this delicious evening, narrated by Nina Bernstein Simmons, daughter of by the late great American composer.
Burton stole the show and gave delight after delight in her presentations of Bernstein at work and play. In this multimedia presentation, the audience could see and hear videos, recordings, and revealing still images of Bernstein. “Lennie” was described by daughter Nina as an “incurable insomniac.”Introduced to festival audiences, on this evening of wonderful nostalgia, was a New York-based amazing soprano, Amy Burton, whose renditions accompanied by veteran pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin, were compelling, entertaining and at the highest level of cabaret performance.