Performance Today Features

"It was as if Bernstein handed me a big platter with 'Career' on it and said, 'Hey kid! You want it?'" Andre Watts said yes. The pianist describes the 1963 concert that changed his life.

Leonard Bernstein didn't impress just Americans. He impressed the world. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's Music Director JoAnn Falletta remembers the music lessons and cigarette ashes Bernstein left in her Juilliard School conducting classes.

Those of us who knew Leonard Bernstein through his recordings loved his work. But what did Bernstein's colleagues and fellow composers think about his career? Composer Philip Glass says that, in considering Bernstein's legacy, there is a lot that he did right. But there was one thing he thinks Bernstein could have done differently.

When he was a graduate student, Richard Danielpour knew Leonard Bernstein as a mentor, a provocateur and the center of a swirling mix of celebrities. Danielpour says Bernstein was quite funny, sometimes sardonic. But there was one person he would never make fun of.

Conductor Roderick Cox is a trailblazer.

Tesfa Wondemagegnehu has been sharing the transformative art of vocal music for more than a decade.

Titus Underwood is the acting principal oboe of the Nashville Symphony.

Chi-chi Nwanoku is one of the most highly respected double bassists in the international classical arena.

Jessie Montgomery is an accomplished chamber musician, composer and music educator.

Steven Banks is an award-winning chamber musician, music educator, and composer.