theatre AS LEONARD BERNSTEIN IN MAESTRO by lisa lipsey
Hershey Felder has an incredible knack for combining the craft of acting and concert-level piano performance. Some have gone as far as to liken him to the movie Ghost, in that Felder literally channels the greats he portrays. Through his expert research and skill, he has taken on the stories of Leonard Bernstein in Maestro; George Gershwin, in Gershwin Alone; Fryderyk Chopin, the Polish composer and pianist, Ludwig van Beethoven and Gerhard von Breuning in Beethoven, As I Knew Him and Irving Berlin in Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin. In addition to performing around the world, Felder has been hard at work with his team and his newest piece, Tchaikovsky, will debut later this year. While discussing Maestro Bernstein, it became
clear that Felder is truly dedicated to two things— the piano and storytelling. “The desire to know my instrument inside and out, that came from me. It was really important to me, to do that, to really be an artist and to tell stories musically. I don’t know that I ever fell in love with Bernstein’s music, it’s more about telling the story. Artists have to pay their rent and theatre operators and owners tell you what they want. You then go on a discovery, not to fall in love, but to tell a story. Once you’re involved, if the story is worthy, you tell it.” Bernstein’s professional career is certainly worthy of retelling and his personal life story is equally fascinating. We can claim him in our LGBT family tree. Bernstein, a gay, Jewish man, married an adoring gal and she gave him permission to be himself. He then proceeded to break through every artistic ceiling possible to become known as the world’s musical ambassador. He was a father,
conductor, composer, pianist, author, teacher, librettist, television star, human rights activist… for Leonard Bernstein, boundaries simply did not exist. He was also one of the first people to step up and raise serious funds for HIV/AIDS research, at a time when the government provided zero funding. Like Bernstein, in Felder’s world, “There is no
down time—it doesn’t exist. Down is up. Up is all the time. Everything I do contributes to my art. I am taking in art even when I am in bed reading. This is my crazy way of life and I am okay with it. It’s a gruesome schedule—I will say that to anyone who thinks this is glamorous work.” Felder, who hails from Canada, was a scholar- in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music and is married to Kim Campbell, the first female Prime Minister of Canada. Despite being serious about his work, Felder wants people to know, “That I am funny. There is never any humor without pathos, pathos without humor. I want to create things that are real, not pretentious. It is that certain sense of real that makes a difference. That the art is taken seriously, that I give 100 percent, give them everything, they are paying for tickets. I am serious about my delivery, everything else, not important at all.” Felder of course, will play favorite Bernstein
pieces from West Side Story and On The Town, but he notes, “This show doesn’t pander that way. Actually, because he was teacher, that became the most important aspect of telling his story.” In 1957, Bernstein convinced CBS to put his
Young People’s Concerts on the air. His daughter Jamie Bernstein wrote about it in her tribute to her
HERSHEY FELDER
There is never any humor
without pathos, pathos without humor. I want to create things that are real, not pretentious. It is that certain sense of real that makes a difference.“
father, “To think that for a while there, Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic were on CBS primetime television!! All over America, families gathered in their living rooms in front of their big, bulky black and white T.V. sets, and watched Leonard Bernstein tell them all about classical music.” As daughter Jaime points out, he used pop songs
in his teaching, “That meant a lot in those days, when parents were turning up their noses at Elvis, Motown and The Beatles and so-called experts would criticize popular music as brainless and even harmful. But hey: Leonard Bernstein thought The Beatles were great! The Supremes too and the Stones and Latin American music and African war chants and Louis Armstrong and Balinese gamelan and...Well, that was exactly it. He loved music—all of it. He gave a clear signal to his audiences that it was okay to love all music and not to put a value judgment on one genre over another. He was the un-snobbiest person you could ever hope to meet. He loved people and was curious about everything. Those are good traits in a teacher.”
Maestro runs Wednesday, July 6 through Sunday, July 17 at the Lyceum Theatre, home of the San Diego Repertory Theatre. For tickets and more information, call 619.544.1000 or go to
sdrep.org.
As part of San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, on Wednesday, July 6 there will be a special performance that includes a post-show reception with Hershey Felder in an intimate preview of his newest piece, Tchaikovsky.
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RAGE monthly | JULY 2016
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