A hundred years ago on the 25th of August 1918 one of the greatest musicians in American history was born.

Leonard Bernstein.

The original energizing motor that makes me compose is the urge to communicate and to communicate

with as many people as possible.

Composer, conductor, pianist, and icon of the 20th century.

Leonard Bernstein is perhaps the most influential American musician of all time. His extraordinarily diverse array of

talents saw him become the first American celebrity conductor. By the age of 40 he was a household

name, partly due to his enormously successful hit

the 1957 musical West Side Story.

I like to be in America, okay by me in America, everything free in America

For a smoke in America.

Leonard Bernstein, or Lenny as he was affectionately known, offered the world a dynamic new model of what a classical

Maestro could be.

He tore down musical barriers to declare the symphony hall open to everyone.

For him, music was a means of creating mutual understanding, and it was part of his lifelong

commitment to social change.

His belief that music promotes tolerance and inspiration to try to be the best

citizen of the world that one can be motivate me every day.

Bernstein died in 1990, but his legacy isn't only in his music or his many hundreds of

recordings.

His charismatic wave conveying his own excitement about music has left a lasting impression on everyone who encountered him.

He heard and saw things in me that I couldn't possibly have known were there or possible.

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