Bernstein & Previn: Composing to Conducting

Leonard Bernstein and Andrew Previn were contemporaries and friends. Both excelled at playing piano and composing popular and concert music.   

Leonard Bernstein composed symphonies on Jewish themes as well as Broadway shows. Andre Previn won four Oscars for film composing and invented the concept of jazz versions of Broadway shows. He not only wrote hit songs and concert music, he also had great comedic talent. 

As they evolved and to be taken seriously as conductors, each had to take a turn away from popular music. Bernstein went on to conduct  

The New York and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras while Previn conducted the London Symphony Orchestra. Learn from Loren Means about this exciting metamorphosis of these highly revered artists. 

Loren Means has lectured at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on “Fiddler on the Roof” and on George Gershwin and Duke Ellington. He has also lectured on Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie at the San Francisco Public Library. He has written jazz and vanguard music for the Berkeley Barb, Down Beat, and Contemporary Keyboard magazines.