Faculty Q&A: Ben Simon on the Music, Magic and Heart of an American Maestro

Nancy Murr
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Ben Simon in a picture frame holding a framed photo of Leonard Bernstein

Violist and conductor Ben Simon has performed internationally with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. Music Director of the SF Chamber Orchestra for more than 20 years, he has taught at Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley. He is teaching “Lenny: Portrait of an American Maestro” with us in Lafayette and online starting Oct. 17.


I was excited to learn that Leonard Bernstein's daughter Jamie will be a guest speaker in your course. How did that come about?

I was describing this course to a musician friend of mine who asked me “Would you be interested in having Jamie Bernstein visit your class?”  “Interested?”, I replied, “That would be amazing!." So he emailed her and literally within an hour she wrote back. Jamie is often asked to talk about her famous father and she generously agreed. She’ll be Zooming in to our second class (Oct 24) and I could not be more thrilled. I suspect among the questions she’s gotten lately — and may get in our class — is what she thinks of the movie Maestro. I’m sure she has an answer to that. I know I do. 

And your answer is … ?

You have to take my class to find out!

I’ll be there! Moving on. What sparked your love of Bernstein? 

When I was a budding violinist of 8, my mother dragged me on the subway from Brooklyn to Carnegie Hall for one of Bernstein's Young People's Concerts.  According to her I usually fell asleep at concerts but I didn’t this time, and we ended up attending many of these absolutely incredible concerts. As an adult — and seasoned professional musician — I’ve watched them all again online and can confirm that they are the most brilliant body of musical education ever.  Writing every word of the script himself, with the New York Philharmonic as his “backup band”, they were truly inspirational to me as a kid and continue to be.  No one did this better than Bernstein! At his core, he was a teacher. Everything he did — conducting, composing, lecturing, talking, writing — everything was to educate.

Did you ever have a chance to work with him?

I was fortunate enough to have worked under the Maestro four times. The first two were as a Master’s student at the Juilliard School and the second two as a violist in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The very first time I saw him walk into the Juilliard rehearsal room full of neurotic graduate students I was like wow! He was charismatic and charming. I was completely swept away. In the NY Phil, which I played in for two seasons, Bernstein came in as Conductor Laureate — Zubin Mehta was Music Director at that point — and led unforgettable rehearsals and performances.  I’ll be sharing all these experiences during the course.  

What was it like to be conducted by him?

He was dazzling. The New York Philharmonic was his family, and you could feel the love.  Here I was, this kid at the very back of the viola section, but I could feel this relationship, this back and forth between Bernstein and the orchestra. At the time, I didn't realize just how remarkable that exchange was. I have felt that way very few times in the 50 years I've been playing viola in various professional orchestras.  

Bernstein’s philosophy was basically that music is love, and his mission in life was to spread that love everywhere. He was a musician's musician, and a consummate teacher. 

How do you pare down such a huge body of work?

It’s been a challenge, but a wonderful one.  I’ve organized the course chronologically, focusing on major life events but mostly on his music and his career on the podium.  We’ll be enjoying some amazing videos and archival photos, and exploring those who influenced him — including the conductors Serge Koussevitsky, Fritz Reiner and Dmitri Mitropoulos and the composers Aaron Copland, George Gershwin and Gustav Mahler. Plus all the incredible artists he collaborated with: Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim, and many many others. And learning about many of his lesser-known compositions.  

What do you hope OLLI members take away from your course?

I hope they come away with a greater appreciation of Bernstein the man. Yes, he had an outsized talent, a brilliant mind and extraordinary good fortune in his upbringing and education. But he worked hard — and played hard — and was lucky … often being in the right place at the right time. He was much more than the composer of West Side Story, more than a famous conductor. Bernstein tried to make the world a better place through music and largely succeeded.