1918 Born August 25 to Jennie (b. Resnick) & Samuel Joseph (Shmuel Yosef) Bernstein, Lawrence,
Massachusetts.

1923 October 23, birth of sister, Shirley Anne.

1928 First piano lessons, with Frieda Karp.

1929 June, graduated W. L. Garrison Grammar School, Roxbury, Mass. (1923?-1929)

1930 Piano lessons with Susan Williams at the New England Conservatory of Music.

1932 October, piano lessons with Helen G. Coates.

1934 May 14, first piano recital, Roxbury Memorial High School.
Summer, adapted and produced his version of Carmen, Sharon, Mass., also singing the title role!
First radio series: "Avol Presents Leonard Bernstein at the Piano," Station WBZ, Boston.
Entered Harvard.
Piano study with Heinrich Gebhard.

1937 January, met Dimitri Mitropoulos
July, first piano recital, Scituate Yacht Club.
November 14, met Aaron Copland.
First published writing on music in Modern Music (about David Prall, the aesthetician.)

1938 June 12, his first public performance as composer-pianist: Music for the Dance Nos. #1 & 2, Music for Two Pianos, with Mildred Spiegel, Brookline.

1939 April 21, his first appearance as a conductor, leading his own incidental score to The Birds, at Harvard.
May 27, directed from the piano, Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, Harvard.
June 22, graduated Harvard, cum laude in music. Music teachers: Edward A. Ballantine, elementary harmony; Edward B. Hill, orchestration; A. Tillman Merritt, harmony and counterpoint; Walter Piston, counterpoint and fugue.

1939 First television appearance (NBC) as piano accompanist for The Revuers, which included Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Judy Holiday.

1940 January, first solo recording as a pianist in David Diamond's Prelude & Fugue No. 3 in C# Major, New Music Recordings.
March, first recording as an accompanist to The Revuers, The Girl With the Two Left Feet.
Spent first summer at BMC, Tanglewood, as a conducting student of Serge Koussevitzky.
July 11, conducted Boston Pops Orch. at Esplanade open air concert in Wagner's Prelude to Die Meistersinger, his first appearance with a professional orchestra.

1941 May 3, received diploma in conducting from Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. Teachers: Fritz Reiner, conducting; Isabella Vengerova, piano; Randall Thompson, orchestration; Richard Stoehr, counterpoint; Renée Longy Miquelle, score reading (1939-41).

1942 April 21, premiere of Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Boston, David Glazer & Leonard Bernstein (hereinafter referred to as LB). Summer, worked as assistant to Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood.

1942-43 Worked at Harms, Inc., New York publishers, using pseudonym of Lenny Amber.

1943 April, signed first contract with a music publisher, Harms-Witmark (MPHC).
August 24, premiere of I Hate Music, Jennie Tourel & LB, Lenox, Mass.
August 25, invited by Artur Rodzinski.to be Assistant Conductor of the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York (popularly known as The New York Philharmonic) .
Fall, first recording of his own music, Sonata for Clarinet & Piano, David Oppenheim & LB, Hargail recordings.
October 18, did workshop readings of American compositions with NYP, Carnegie Hall.
November 13, premiere of I Hate Music by Jennie Tourel in Town Hall, NYC.
November 14, debut with NYP, substituting for Bruno Walter.
December 16, substituted for Howard Barlow with NYP.

1944 January 28, premiere of Jeremiah, Symphony No. 1, PSO, LB cond., with Jennie Tourel.
March 4, conducted first concert outside of US: Les Concerts Symphoniques de Montréal.
April 18, conducted premiere of Jerome Robbins' ballet Fancy Free, NYC. Spring, signed first contract with a recording company: RCA-Victor.
December 28, premiere of On the Town, NYC.

1945 January 14, led FP of Fancy Free Suite, PSO.
May 11, premiere of Hashkiveinu, Park Avenue Synagogue, NYC.
October 8, began three-year directorship of the NYCS.

1946 April 1, premiere of Blitzstein's Airborne Symphony, NYCS.
May 15, made his overseas debut with Czech Philharmonic, Prague.
July, first performance, Ravel Piano Concerto in G, Philharmonic Orch. of London as pianist-conductor.
July 4, conducted European premiere of Fancy Free with Ballet Theatre at Royal Opera House, London.
August 6, conducted American premiere of Britten's Peter Grimes, BMC.
October 24, led premiere of Jerome Robbins' ballet Facsimile, Ballet Theatre, NYC.

1947 April 27, Tel Aviv, gave first of nine concerts with Palestine Philharmonic Orch.

1948 January 30, led premiere of Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra, BSO. Spring, first European tour conducting different orchestras in Munich, Milan, Budapest, Vienna, Scheveningen, Paris (radio).
May 10, led orchestra of 17 Jewish displaced persons, Holocaust survivors from camps in Landsberg & Feldafing, Germany, in Bizet L'Arlesienne Suite and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
October--November, led concerts of IPO in Israel during the War of Independence.

1949 April 8, premiere of The Age of Anxiety, Symphony No. 2, BSO, Koussevitzky, cond., LB as piano soloist.
December 2, led premiere Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony, BSO.
December 2, film premiere of On The Town, MGM.

1950 April 24, premiere of Peter Pan (songs, choruses and incidental music), NYC.

1951 January 8, began three-month U.S. tour with IPO, sharing the conducting with Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky died June 5, 1951. Appointed head of orchestra and conducting departments of BMC, (annually through 1955, except 1954).
September 9, married Chilean-born actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn.
September, appointed Professor of Music at Brandeis Univ, Waltham, Mass. (through 1955).

1952 June 12, led premiere of Trouble in Tahiti, Brandeis Univ., as part of the first Festival of the Creative Arts.
June 14, led premiere of Blitzstein's version of Weill's The Threepenny Opera, Brandeis Univ.
September 8, birth of daughter, Jamie Anne Maria.

1953 February 26, premiere of Wonderful Town, Winter Garden, NY.
March 29, gave four premieres of Koussevitzky Foundation orchestral commissions, Town Hall, NYC.
June 12, led first Festival of the Creative Arts.
June 13, led American premiere of Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Brandeis Univ, with Lemonade Opera Co.
December, became first American to conduct at La Scala Opera House, Milan: Cherubini's Medea, with Maria Callas.

1954 July 28, premiere of On the Waterfront, Columbia Pictures, film score by LB.
September 12, premiere of Serenade, Isaac Stern, LB and Orch. Teatro La Fenice, Venice.
November 14, wrote and performed his first Omnibus telecast, on the sketches of 1st Mvt, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Symphony of the Air.

1955 February 23, European premiere of Wonderful Town, Princes Theatre, London.
July 7, birth of son, Alexander Serge Leonard.
August 11, led premiere of Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, BSO, Tanglewood.
November 17, premiere of The Lark, NYC, incidental music by LB, New York Pro Musica, Noah Greenberg, cond.

1956 March, premiere of German language version of Trouble In Tahiti, Cologne Opera, Germany.
April 2, signed first long-term contract with Columbia Records (later CBS).
October 15, named one of two Principal Conductors (the other being Dimitri Mitropoulos) of the NYP.
November 9, FP in German of Wonderful Town at the Volksoper, Vienna.
December 1, premiere of Candide, Martin Beck Theater, NYC.

1957 January 26, led premiere of Overture to Candide (concert version), NYP.
September 26, premiere of West Side Story, Winter Garden, NYC.
October 2, conducted opening of Frederic R. Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv, Israel, new home of the IPO.
November 19, named Music Director of NYP (the first American-born and trained conductor to be so designated).

1958 January 2, directed his first concert as co-conductor of NYP.
January 18, began first series of annual televised New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts on CBS-TV, beginning with What Does Music Mean? Continued until 1972, with 53 different programs led by LB.
April-June, led NYP in 28 concerts on Latin American tour, shared with Dimitri Mitropoulos.
September, commenced eleven year period as Music Director of NYP. Initiated NYP Thursday evening Preview concerts.
November 14, European premiere of West Side Story, Manchester Opera House, England.
November 30, started new television series: "Leonard Bernstein and The New York Philharmonic," geared toward adults, beginning with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Continued until 1962, with 14 more programs.

1959 February 20, Amberson Enterprises, Inc., LB's management company, was founded. Helen G. Coates, Abraham Friedman and H. Gordon Freeman, directors.
May 1, European premiere of Candide, London.
August - October, NYP tour of 17 European and Near East countries, including three weeks in the USSR, conducting 36 of 50 concerts.
November, publication of first book, The Joy of Music, Simon & Schuster, publisher.

1960 January, led concerts for NYP Mahler Centennial, shared with Bruno Walter & Dmitri Mitropoulos. NYP.
August-September, NYP tour of the US, (including Hawaii), Vancouver and West Berlin, leading 34 concerts.

1961 January 19, premiered his Fanfare at Inaugural Gala for President John F. Kennedy, Washington.
February 13, premiere of Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Lukas Foss, cond., in all-Bernstein program, NYP.
April-May, first NYP tour of Japan, Alaska, Canada and southern USA
October 18, film premiere of West Side Story, United Artists.

1962 February 28, birth of daughter, Nina Maria Felicia.
September 23, led inaugural concert of NYP in Philharmonic Hall (later renamed Avery Fisher Hall), Lincoln Center, NYC.
Autumn, publication of his second book, Leonard Bernstein's Young Peoples Concerts for Reading and Listening, Simon & Schuster.

1963 April 10, gave posthumous world premiere of Poulenc's Clarinet Sonata with Benny Goodman, Carnegie Hall.
April 18, played Schumann's Piano Quintet with Juilliard String Quartet at Library of Congress.
May 30, European premiere of On the Town, Prince of Wales Theatre, London.
August-September, transcontinental tour of U.S. with NYP, conducting 17 concerts in 13 cities.
November 24, led JFK memorial concert on CBS TV, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection), with NYP.
December 10, led premiere of Kaddish, Symphony No. 3, IPO, Tel Aviv, with Hannah Rovina, Jennie Tourel, soloists.

1964 March 6, debut at Metropolitan Opera House, NYC, conducting first of ten performances of Verdi's Falstaff.

1965 March 30, led Jerome Robbins new choreography for Stravinsky's Les Noces, American Ballet Theater, NYC,
July 15, led premiere of his Chichester Psalms, NYP. July 31, attended premiere of the original version of Chichester Psalms (for all male voices) at Chichester Cathedral, England.

1966 March 14, debut at VSO in Verdi's Falstaff.
November, publication of his third book, The Infinite Variety of Music, Simon & Schuster.

1967 July 9, conducted IPO on Mt. Scopus after the Six-Day War, filmed as Journey to Jerusalem.
August 10 & 12, Seiji Ozawa conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in two all-Bernstein programs at Ravinia.
September, Canadian Centennial tour of Canada with NYP, nine cities.

1968 February 28, premiere in German of West Side Story, Volksoper, Vienna.
April 13, led first of five performances of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, VSO.
June 9, conducted members of NYP in Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony No. 5, at funeral of Robert Kennedy, St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC.
August-September, NYP tour of Israel and Europe. October, led celebrations for 125th anniversary season of NYP.

1969 April 30, death of Samuel J. Bernstein.
May 17, led last concert as Music Director of NYP, after having conducted 939 concerts with the orchestra (831 as Music Director), more than any other conductor in its history. Gave 36 world premieres, 14 US premieres, 15 NYC premieres and led more than 40 works never before performed by the NYP. Received title of "Laureate Conductor".
September, Schuyler Chapin appointed Executive producer of Amberson Productions, an affiliate of Amberson Enterprises, Inc.

1970 January, led Cavalleria Rusticana at Metropolitan Opera, NYC.
February, inaugurated Amberson film and video productions with Verdi's Requiem, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, followed by Beethoven's Birthday, A Celebration in Vienna (CBS) for Beethoven Bicentennial.
May, led parts of Beethoven's Fidelio, Theater an der Wien & VSO.
July, became Advisor to Tanglewood through 1974, with Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller as Artistic Directors.
August-September tour of Japan and Southern U.S. with NYP.

1971 January 19, signed first contract with Unitel for filming of Mahler and Brahms symphonies. Over the next 20 years, created and performed in almost 200 films, UNITEL Music Films.
September 8, inaugurated the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., with premiere of Mass, A Theater Piece.
December 15, conducted his 1000th concert with the NYP, a milestone never before achieved in the orchestra's history.

1972 January 24, Harry J. Kraut became Executive Vice President of Amberson Enterprises, Inc.
March 28, premiere of Meditations I & II for 'Cello and Piano, NYC, LB and Stephen Kates.
September, conducted Bizet's Carmen at Metropolitan Opera, NYC, and signed first contract with Polydor.

1973 January 19, led Concert for Peace at National Cathedral, Washington, with members of NSO, in protest against President Nixon, on the eve of Nixon's second term in office.
June 23, led concert with Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma (RAI) and choruses, at the Vatican, Rome, for the tenth anniversary of Paul VI's elevation to the Papacy.
June 25, European premiere of Mass, Konzerthaus, Vienna, Yale Univ. forces, John Mauceri, cond.
October 9, delivered first of six lectures entitled The Unanswered Question, as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard Univ. Was in residence at Harvard for fall ('54) & spring ('55) semesters.
December 20, premiere of revised version of Candide.

1974 May 16, led premiere of Jerome Robbin's ballet Dybbuk, NYC Ballet.
July, conducted BSO & World Youth Orch. at Tanglewood commemorating Koussevitzky's centennial.
August 16, led world premiere of Dybbuk Variations in Auckland, New Zealand.

1975 April 3 & 17, American premieres of Dybbuk Suites Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, (new titles for Dybbuk Variations), NYP.

1976 February 17-22, festival of Bernstein's music held at Butler Univ, Indianapolis, Indiana.
February, his fourth book published, The Unanswered Question, Harvard University Press.
May 4, premiere of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mark Hellinger Theater, NYC.
August 5, German language premiere of Candide, Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna.

1977 January 19, conducted two of his songs at Inaugural Concert for President Jimmy Carter, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
March-April, IPO presented a festival of Bernstein's music to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his first concerts with the orchestra.
August, Austria's Carinthian Summer Festival presented first European festival of LB's music, with IPO.
October 11, premieres of Songfest, Three Meditations from Mass for Violoncello and Orch. & Slava!, (latter two with Mstislav Rostropovich as cellist and conductor, respectively), LB, cond, NSO(W).

1978 January 29, conducted Fidelio, telecast to 18 countries from VSO.
June 16, death of Felicia Montealegre Bernstein.
August 25, Leonard Bernstein 60th Birthday Celebration Concert, NSO(W), Wolf Trap, Virginia. Telecast internationally.

1979 February 15, led Orquesta Filharmónica de la Ciudad de Mxico, México City, in concert for state visit by President Carter to President Lopez de Portillo.

1980 January 17, premiere of Jerome Robbins' revised version of Dybbuk, New York City Ballet, NYC, Jerome Robbins, choreographer, Robert Irving, cond.
January 24, Fancy Free performed by New York City Ballet, first time by company other than the American Ballet Theatre.
September 25, premiere of Divertimento, BSO, Seiji Ozawa, cond.
October 11, premiere of A Musical Toast, NYP, Zubin Mehta, cond.
November 14, conducted Lincoln Portrait, with Copland as narrator, on Copland's 80th birthday, NSO(W).
December 7, received Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime of Contributions to American Culture through the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

1981 February 16, German language version of Mass, at VSO.
May 27, led premiere of Halil, with Jean-Pierre Rampal, solo flute, IPO, Tel Aviv.
June 12, conducted Kaddish, Halil and Three Meditations from Mass with the SCO honoring Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

1982 January-February, Fellow-in-Residence at Indiana Univ. Directed workshops, with librettist Stephen Wadsworth for their opera A Quiet Place.
July-August, Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmoinc Institute, giving master classes in conducting.
Published his fifth book, Findings.
October 13, Opera House Version of Candide opened at New York City Opera, Lincoln Center.

1983 June 17, premiere of A Quiet Place (first version), Houston Grand Opera, John DeMain, cond.
August 25, Leonard Bernstein Day, Lawrence, Mass., dedicated to nuclear disarmament: parade, concert, dedication of LB Outdoor Theater in Heritage State Park.
December 31, speaking for the first time at Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC, speaking on anti-nuclear and peace causes.

1984 June 19, premiere of revised version of A Quiet Place at La Scala, John Mauceri, cond. Opened at Kennedy Center on July 22.
September 4-7, recorded West Side Story for DG with opera singers, including Te Kanawa, Carreras, Troyanos, NYC.
September 13, 40th anniversary concert of Jeremiah Symphony with PSO.
December 2, wedding of daughter, Jamie to David Evan Thomas.

1985 July-August, with European Community Youth Orchestra, toured in a "Journey for Peace" program (including Kaddish) to Athens, Hiroshima (40th anniversary), Budapest & Vienna. Shared conducting with Eiji Oue.
September 26, opening of Bernstein: The Television Work at the Museum of Broadcasting, NYC.

1986 April 10, led, then recorded, A Quiet Place at the VSO.
April 29-May 11, Leonard Bernstein Festival given by the LSO at the Barbican Centre, including a concert conducted by LB in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II.
September 13, led premiere of Jubilee Games with IPO, Avery Fisher Hall, NYC.
December 15, led premiere of Opening Prayer, NYP, Carnegie Hall.

1987 March 4, birth of granddaughter Francisca Ann Maria.
March 8, premiere in German of A Quiet Place, Bielefeld, Germany.
April-May, workshop of musical adaptation (not completed) of Brecht play by LB, Jerome Robbins, John Guare and Stephen Sondheim: The Race to Urga at Mitzi Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC.

1988 April 21, premiere of Missa Brevis, Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Robert Shaw, cond.
April 24, Conducted New York City Ballet Orchestra in 1st Movement of Chichester Psalms
May 9, premiere of Arias and Barcarolles, Equitable Center Auditorium, NYC.
May 11, premiere of My Twelve-Tone Melody sung by LB in honor of Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday, Carnegie Hall, NYC.
May 17, Premiere of Scottish Opera Version of Candide, Glasgow, conducted by John Mauceri
June 16-22 Conducted Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 26-28, conducted three concerts in Moscow with SHMF Orch.
August 25-28, LB 70th Birthday Celebration, Tanglewood. October-November toured with Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra
November 14, led NYP in all-Bernstein concert, marking his 45th anniversary debut with the NYP.

1989 April 24, Premiere of Concerto for Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra June 6, conducted Boston Pops for 50th Anniversary of Harvard Univ. 1939 graduating class.
June 22, last concert with IPO
July 21, last concert with combined SHMF orch. & Santa Caecilia Orch., Neumeunster.
September 1, Warsaw, concert commemorating outbreak of World War II.
October 14, birth of grandson, Evan Samuel Thomas.
October 19-31, last concerts with NYP October 23, participated in Alan Jay Lerner Memorial
November 15, refused National Medal of Arts from President George Bush as a protest against revoked NEA grant for a NY exhibit on AIDS.
December, narrated and conducted Candide (final concert version), LSO, Barbican Centre, London. Subsequently recorded by DG.
December 23, 25, led Beethoven Symphony No. 9, international orch., Berlin Freedom Concert celebrating end of Berlin Wall, first at the Philharmonie, formerly West Berlin and then at Schauspielhaus, formerly East berlin..

1990 March 11, conducted VPO at Carnegie Hall. Last New York concert.
April, led Mozart's Mass in C Minor, Waldsasser, Germany. Final concert with BRSO.
June 5, conducted performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at Prague Festival, Czech Philhamonic Orch.
Last concerts, Tanglewood:
August 14, including Copland's Symphony No. 3, BMCO.
August 19, Koussevitzky Memorial concert: Britten's Three Sea Interludes, LB's Arias & Barcarolles (Carl St. James, cond.) and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, BSO.
October 9, announced retirement from public performances due to failing health.
October 14, the death of LB, 6:15 p.m. at his home, 1 West 72nd Street, NYC. Death due to cardiac arrest brought on by mesothelioma.
October 16, private funeral at LB home followed by interment at Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY. Three memorial events in NYC, organized by family & staff:
November 14, "A Concert Remembering Lenny," Carnegie Hall. December 13, "Remembering Lenny, " A Theater Tribute, Majestic Theater.
December 31, "Remembering Leonard Bernstein," The 1990 New Year's Eve Concert for Peace, Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

1992 December 29, death of Jennie Bernstein.

1993 August 25, Mayor David Dinkins of New York City renamed the corner of Broadway and 65th Street "Leonard Bernstein Place"
October 8, Mayor of Tel Aviv named the plaza in front of the Mann Auditorium Kikar Leonard Bernstein (Leonard Bernstein Square)

1994 April, The Boston Symphony Orchestra announces the naming of the Leonard Bernstein Performer's Pavilion at Tanglewood.

1995 Fall, New York University selects Leonard Bernstein for induction into the NYU Musical Theater Hall of Fame.
October 16, Mayor Jean Tibéri of Paris inaugurated Place Leonard Bernstein in the city's 12th arrondissement, in proximity to the American Center.

1996 May 10, Boston Latin School inscribes Leonard Bernstein's name in the upper frieze of the school's historic assembly hall.

Thanks to Paul Beks.

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