Seattle Celebrates Bernstein—and his daughter too!

Jamie Bernstein visits Seattle for talks and special events

SEATTLE – Jamie Bernstein, daughter of famed composer/conductor/educator Leonard Bernstein, will be visiting Seattle for several days at the end of May and taking part in a series of special events around town as part of the Seattle Celebrates Bernstein Festival.

Jamie is a narrator, writer and broadcaster who has transformed a lifetime of loving music into a career of sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm with others. She grew up in an atmosphere bursting with music, theater and literature. Her father, mother (the pianist and actress Felicia Montealegre) and their legions of friends in the arts created a spontaneous, ebullient household that turned Jamie into a dyed-in-the-wool cultural enthusiast.

Replicating her father's lifelong compulsion to share and teach, Jamie has written and produced several concerts for families and young people on the music of Copland,Mozart, Bernstein and others. The acclaimed program The Bernstein Beat, a family concert about her father modeled after his own groundbreaking Young People's Concerts, has been presented by Carnegie Hall Family Concerts, the Caramoor Festival and orchestras across the country. In 2009 Jamie wrote youth concert narration for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Education Department entitled Music Can Morph: Folk Music in the Concert Hall. She also travels the world as a concert narrator, appearing with orchestras from Philadelphia to Minnesota, Havana to Beijing. And as a broadcaster, she has produced and hosted numerous shows for radio stations in the United States and Great Britain. Most recently, Jamie presented a series for BBC Radio 3, "Fast Machine," about the music scene in New York City.

While in Seattle, Jamie will have several speaking engagements, including talking with high school audiences at The 5th Avenue on Friday May 28 at 3:30 as part of the “Fridays at the 5th” workshop, as well as giving two “Showtalk” lectures at the Theatre on Saturday May 29 at 5:00 and Sunday May 30 at 4:30 prior to the evening performances of Candide. On Sunday May 30 she will also be giving a special pre-show chat at a SIFF screening of On the Waterfront, the classic 1954 Marlon Brando film which features Bernstein’s only score written specifically for a motion picture.

“I am thrilled to have Jamie join us for this action-packed Festival weekend,” says The 5th’s Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong. “This is a fantastic opportunity for our audiences to get a first-hand, behind the scenes view of this great American artist who galvanized both the popular and the classical musical worlds.”

On Thursday May 27 Jamie will also be attending the opening night of The 5th’s production of Candide, her father’s mid-career masterpiece. The comic and dramatic adventures of a young man as he travels the world in search of his one true love, Candide is inspired by Voltaire’s wickedly satirical novel. This musical masterpiece includes some of the greatest music ever written, with brilliantly witty lyrics by Richard Wilbur and additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman and Leonard Bernstein himself. Candide is a cornerstone of the Seattle Celebrates Bernstein festival.

Tickets for Candide as well as season subscriptions to The 5th Avenue’s 2010-2011 Season are available by calling 206-625-1900/toll-free 888-5TH-4TIX (584-4849), at our website 5thavenue.org, and in person at the box office at 1308 5th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.

Upcoming Festival events include concerts by Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle Chamber Singers, a performance by Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus and the Season Finale at the Seattle Symphony. For more information on these and other events, go to seattlecelebratesbernstein.org.