Southbank Centre's Bernstein Project presents Mass

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(April 2010)

The Southbank Centre’s season-long Bernstein Project reaches its final phase with performances of The Age of Anxiety and Mass.

This season has seen the Southbank Centre in London presenting a ten-month celebration of Leonard Bernstein – one of the most charismatic men of the 20th century. A composer and conductor who wrote poetry and loved science; a pop icon revered by audiences, critics and musicians alike, and a rebel who was embraced by the establishment. As well as concerts and talks, the Bernstein Project has been unusual in placing a strong emphasis on community events and public involvement.

Bernstein’s engagement with the poetry of WH Auden is explored with a performance of the composer’s symphony-concerto The Age of Anxiety, performed by pianist Nicolas Hodges and the London Philharmonic conducted by Marin Alsop (21 April). Alsop is the Artistic Director of the Bernstein Project and her connection to Leonard Bernstein stretches back to the tender age of nine when she first saw him conducting. At that moment, she knew she had to become a conductor herself. Aged 31, Alsop was then taken under the wing of Bernstein, who made an indelible mark on her not only as a musician but as a person.

Bernstein’s extraordinary multi-disciplinary stagework Mass has been championed by Marin Alsop in performance and on a recent acclaimed Naxos recording. She conducts two performances of Mass at the Royal Festival Hall on 10 and 11 July which form the climax of the Bernstein Project’s outreach programme. Commissioned by Southbank Centre, this Mass production has been shaped over months and features a giant cast drawn from the local community performing with professional artists. The entire Mass Orchestra, a rock band, choirs, soloists, a marching band and dancers come together to celebrate the extraordinary spirit of Bernstein.

As well as the Bernstein Project website at http://bernstein.southbankcentre.co.uk, the Southbank Centre has created a book to provide background entitled Who is Leonard Bernstein? This is on sale from the Royal Festival Hall bookshop priced £4.00 https://shop.southbankcentre.co.uk/who-leonard-bernstein

> Buy the Naxos recording of Mass from our Online Shop

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