PRELUDE, FUGUE News for Friends of Leonard Bernstein RIFFS Spring/Summer 2010 A Quiet Place at New York City Opera by George Steel eonard Bernstein himself Lsaid that all of his works - symphonies, piano pieces, songs, all of it - were theatrical. But his works for the stage have a special place in the history of American music. So I am overjoyed to say that New York City Opera will open its 2010-11 season with A Quiet Place, Bernstein's final completed stage work, with a libretto by Stephen Wadsworth. It is undoubtedly one of Bernstein's greatest musical achievements. As a composer, LB always sought "undiscovered country." It is so typical of him that a late work like A Quiet Place would be full of struggle and experimenta­ tion. Every note he wrote "cost," as he would say: he paid in sweat and blood (or really cigarettes and Tums) for music that seems inevitable and even, paradoxically, effortless. He completed A Quiet Place through Herculean effort and self-sacrifice. It is an amazing work - and one that we need more than ever. It is not afraid to challenge and to break new ground - and it reaches in some ways further than other Bernstein Music by Libretto by works to integrate his many Leonard Bernstein Stephen Wadsworth musical languages. Bernstein had an uncanny Pro,lwud l1y Houston Grand Opera, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and 1eatro al/a Scala understanding of the theatrical power of music, and all his talent and experience are on display in (continued on page 2) Poster from the Houston Grand Opera premiere production 3 Mass in Virginia 5 Artful Learning Spring 8 In the News Inside ... 4 White Plains West Side 2010 Update 12 Some Performances Story Project 7 Bernstein Beyond the Couch and Concert Hall A Quiet Place at New York City Opera, continued To Our Readers ven now, 20 years since ELeonard Bernstein's death, his presence is ubiquitous. Festivals featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein seem to be sprout­ ing all over the world, from Seattle to Japan. New books, articles, CDs and DVDs are all issuing forth in the coming months. Even psychia­ Dialogue scene from Houston Grand Opera production trists are getting in on the action. (Bernstein would be flattered.) this towering score: the dramatic As the piece grew, Charlie Certain Bernstein works that transformations of the tunes Harmon would send me dis­ are performed less often are suddenly (from, say, a rage aria into a patches from around the world appearing in multiple locations, chorale of sublime remorse); on the progress of composition, including Trouble in Tahiti and Mass. complex multi-layered choral usually including a photocopy of And most exciting of all, Bernstein's and vocal writing (in the funeral a few precious pages of manu­ ambitious opera, A Quiet Place, is readings) that gives Otelia a run script. Finally I had the honor at long last getting its New York for its money; ardent love duets; of working as an assistant to LB premiere, at New York City Opera and just plain gorgeous tunes. during the 1984 production in this fall. I had the great fortune to Washington, DC. Leonard Bernstein used to say be present at the creation of A A Quiet Place has never been he was proudest of his achievements Quiet Place. With hardy others, far from my mind. As I begin my as an educator. If he could see the I shared the agony of LB's dour second season as General Manager talented young musicians benefiting daily procession to the studio in and Artistic Director of New York from the numerous scholarships in Fairfield, CT, where he went to City Opera, I am thrilled to be his name; the workshops for young compose. But I also shared the able to bring this great work to people developed from such works as delirium when he emerged with New York. Incredible as it may Mass and West Side Story; and above something beautiful. seem, our production will be the all the growth of the visionary Artful New York City premiere of this Learning teaching model, he would Incredible as it may seem, signal work. continue to be proud indeed. Christopher Alden, who shares our production will be my passion for bringing A Quiet J.B.• Place back to the stage, will direct the New York City pre­ a remarkable cast: baritones Louis Otey and Christopher Feigum as miere of this signal work. the older and younger versions of Sam, mezzo-soprano Patricia He could be touchingly proud of a Risley as Dinah, soprano Sara bit of composerly craft (the suave Jakubiak as Dede, baritone Joshua preparation of a suspended ninth Hopkins as Junior, and tenor in Junior's entrance music, for Dominic Armstrong as Franc;:ois. example) and also plagued by Jayce Ogren will conduct. uncertainty about tiny details A Quiet Place wi ll open on (whether or not to end Dede's October 27, 2010, with eight per­ garden aria with a "button") or formances through November 21. larger looming questions ("Is it For More information all too difficult to take?"). Or about A Quiet Place visit more happily, he could be certain, www.leonardbernstein.com/ through his unique supernatural works_a_quiet_place.htm • instinct, of the "rightness" of a musical idea. George Steel is General Manager and Artistic Director e of New York City Opera. Mass in Virginia This past spring the Virginia Arts Festival presented Mass, featuring the Virginia Symphony and Chorus. Inspired by the occasion, conductor JoAnn Paletta shared her reactions. by JoAnn Faletta s I approached the great A honor of conducting Leonard Bernstein's Mass, I was reminded so strongly of my personal expe­ riences with this extraordinary man during my student days at Juilliard. The Maestro would come to the school to work with my four colleagues and me - occasions that were filled with the most exalted anticipation and the greatest fear as well. We were amazed to discover that this, the greatest American musician of the 20th century, was a gentle, encouraging conducting mentor. His kindness to us, coupled with his astonishing musical insights, made the sessions with him unforgettable: truly highlights of my artistic life. Underneath the "larger­ than-life" exterior of Leonard Bernstein; under the charm, the overwhelming magnetism, the confidence and love of life, one John McVeigh, Celebrant, at Virginia Arts Festival could occasionally glimpse a trace of sadness. From the distance of it is a true expression of the com­ And, in the final analysis, over two decades, I wonder now poser's own search for meaning. Mass illustrates so clearly that if that was an expression of an Bernstein holds nothing back from Bernstein - with all of his unresolved question, a yet-ro- us: he bares his soul and his pain; connection to the past, present be fulfilled hope, a yearning for he draws us in, battered and con­ and future - looms large as a something never expressed in fused, and wraps his arms around unique artist, and the towering words. As I studied his Mass, I us to comfort us. and unrepeatable figure of our was struck again by Bernstein's In many ways, Bernstein's musical time. No one but Leonard personal quest for answers. What Mass revealed to me even more Bernstein could have written is the meaning of life? Where is powerfully his closeness to two this piece. No one but Leonard God? What is our time here on composers he idolized. Like Gustav Bernstein could have created such earth about? Mahler, Bernstein filled his Mass a vibrant and troubling mirror His Mass broaches those ques­ with the entire world: a huge and of our world. No one but he tions, and shocks us with honesty, kaleidoscopic landscape of every could have loved us enough to with pain, with yearning for emotion, simultaneously irreverent share his most intimate doubts, answers that are always beyond and profound. Like the solitary hopes and dreams with the untold our reach. It echoes all the doubts and deaf Beethoven, he finds in his millions who are the beneficiaries and hopes we have had in our personal anguish the flame that of his incomparable legacy. • own personal lives, even while it has sustained him throughout his is a searing portrait of a time of life: the hope that music will help J oAnn Paletta is Music public turmoil and trouble in our find the answers, that music will Director of Virginia Symphony country. Mass is powerful because make us whole, that music will and Buffalo Philharmonic. draw people together, that music can change the world. 0 White Plains West Side Story Project uick, name this movie! It instead of panning the breadth of sity, youth-police relationships, Q opens with an aerial view New York City and landing on conflict resolution, and youth of a city, then pans down into the Upper West Side, the view is voice (the importance of a youth a schoolyard, where a group of the City of White Plains, NY. presence in civic affairs). Each young men begin to snap their This all began when the US workshop was co-facilitated by fingers. If you said West Side Department of Justice provided a high school student, a police Story, you're right. But not com­ a grant for the City of Seattle's officer, a teaching artist and a pletely, because now there's a new Police Department, 5th Avenue youth worker. The performance DVD, documenting the White Theatre, and Police Foundation showcased the evolution of the Plains West Side Story Project, to use the universal themes of project and featured all original that opens the same way; except West Side Story as a catalyst material produced by the youth for exploring issues of violence, including poetry, dance, song, and youth-police relationships, diver­ theater.