ASO and Adelaide Festival celebrate 100 years of Leonard Bernstein

1 Jan 2018

Media Release

by Paola Niscioli

To celebrate the 100^th birthday of legendary American composer Leonard Bernstein, acclaimed conductor and one of the maestro’s protégés, John Mauceri, leads the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Bernstein on Stage!

An Australian premiere exclusive to the 2018 Adelaide Festival, Bernstein on Stage! celebrates the man and his legendary body of work. This is a musical journey through Bernstein’s full repertoire including Broadway classics and often overlooked orchestral masterpieces with Mauceri, who worked with Bernstein for more than 18 years.

Founding director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Mauceri will take audiences on a journey celebrating the composer, conductor and educator and his fervour for life, embracing all its richness and diversity. From the street gangs in West Side Story to the middle-class suburbia of Trouble in Tahiti, Bernstein’s work captured the essence of urban 1940s-1970s America and is widely recognised for its focus on hope and understanding.

John Mauceri’s distinguished and extraordinary career has brought him not only to the world’s greatest opera companies and symphony orchestras, but also to the musical stages of Broadway and Hollywood, as well as the most prestigious halls of academia. Regarded as the world’s leading performer of the music of Hollywood’s émigré composers, he has taken the lead in the preservation and performance of many kinds of music and has supervised/conducted premieres by composers as diverse as Debussy, Stockhausen, Korngold, Bernstein, Hindemith, Elfman, Ives, and Shore.

As an accomplished recording artist, John Mauceri has over 70 albums to his name, and is the recipient of Grammy, Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Edison, Cannes Classique, Billboard, two Diapasons d’Or, three Emmys, and four Deutsche Schallplatten Awards.

Conductor John Mauceri says, “(Leonard Bernstein) has left us an aural image of this time and place and, at the same time, an eternal voice of humanity”.

“This is an important retrospective of one of the defining musical composers of the generation, a man who forever changed the landscape of the modern musical. This show is a fantastic reminder of the work of an excellent composer,” said Adelaide Festival Joint Artistic Directors Neil Armfield AO and Rachel Healy.

Whether you loved his work on Broadway or his additions to the world of classical composition, Bernstein on Stage! is a definitive selection from Bernstein’s exciting and technicoloured works for stage with its scintillating symphonic scores.

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Managing Director, Vincent Ciccarello, said, “Leonard Bernstein believed the creative arts to be the beating heart of our civilisation; and it’s a view that we at the ASO share. Bernstein on Stage! is a celebration of Lenny’s life and legacy. John Mauceri and a stellar cast will breathe life into his musical masterpieces in a poignant evening in which we remember a uniquely gifted artist.”

Special Event – Bernstein on Stage!

Friday 16 March & Sunday 18 March 7pm, Festival Theatre

John Mauceri Conductor

Lorina Gore Soprano

Kim Criswell Mezzo-Soprano

Rodney Earl Clarke Bass-Baritone

Luke Kennedy Tenor

Adelaide Chamber Singers

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Cheree McEwin, Publicist, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

08 8233 6205 / 0416 181 679 / mcewinc@aso.com.au

Anthea Hagar, Publicist Adelaide Festival