Bernstein's daughter joins Tucson Desert Song Festival - By Cathalena E. Burch
By Cathalena E. Burch - Arizona Daily Star
January 16, 2018
Leonard Bernstein’s daughter Jamie is joining the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this weekend to perform the narrator role in her father’s “Kaddish” Symphony.
But if you’ve heard the piece before, you might be a little confused. Bernstein, the oldest of the composer’s three children, won’t be reciting the text her father wrote in his 1963 symphony.
“The very first line of his narration is ‘Oh my father’ and he is addressing God. But I can’t speak those words without it being altogether embarrassing and weird, right?” Bernstein said during a phone call from New York City last week. “I can’t bear the idea of spending a second with the audience wondering what father I’m referring to. That’s too embarrassing.”
Bernstein penned her own narration for the work, which has never been performed by the TSO in its nearly 90-year history; it’s one of the cornerstones of the Tucson Desert Song Festival “Bernstein At 100,” now through Feb. 4.