In what was perhaps a predecessor of "Teacher Appreciation" week, Bernstein says to appreciate teachers, using the examples of those who taught him. Watch this priceless clip from Young People's Concert #24.
Fifty-three years ago on this day, thousands of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on a multi-day demonstration from Selma, gathered at City of St. Jude, a Catholic social services complex in Montgomery, Alabama, to rest for the night. It was raining. The field was soaked. And, the musicians, led by Harry Belafonte, set out to inspire the people to reach their destination: the right to vote.
I remember him at one concert describing Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and evoking so vividly the vision of someone walking down the hall at a museum and looking at the paintings.
When West Side Story premiered in 1957, no one could have known that this seminal musical would resonate with audiences for more than half a century.
