Young People's Concerts


The Young People's Concerts at the New York Philharmonic are the longest-running series of family concerts of classical music in the world.

Genesis

They began in 1924 under the direction of "Uncle" Ernest Schelling. Earlier Family Matinees had begun as far back as 1885 under conductor Theodore Thomas. Josef Stránský developed them further under the name Young People's Concerts beginning in 1914. They have run uninterrupted under this name since 1926. Ernest Schelling led his first Young People's Concert on March 27, 1924. By combining musical performances of the Philharmonic with lectures, Schelling set the stage for the program. During that time period, the show went on the road multiple times, travelling to Philadelphia, London, Rotterdam, and Los Angeles.

Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts on CBS (1958–72)

brought the Young People's Concerts to a new level of attention when he arrived as conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1958. Crucially, the first performance with him as music director, on January 18, 1958, at Carnegie Hall, New York City, was the first of these concerts to be televised. Beginning in 1962, the Young People's Concerts became the first series of concerts ever televised from Lincoln Center. Bernstein conducted a total of 53 such performances, all of which were telecast on CBS and syndicated in over 40 countries. Bernstein continued the concerts even during a sabbatical season from the orchestra 1964–65. Although Bernstein left as music director in 1969, he continued to lead the Young People's Concerts as Conductor Emeritus until 1972. Bernstein's performances inspired generations of musicians and music-lovers, and all of them are now available on DVD. However, the airing of the program was halted in March 1972, with a final Young People's Concert concentrating on Gustav Holst's The Planets.
Originally broadcast on Saturday and Sunday, the concerts moved to prime time for episodes 16–40. This was likely a CBS counter to Newton N. Minow’s speech referring to television as a vast wasteland. The series returned to Sunday afternoons. The concerts were also syndicated to forty countries.
Episode No.TitleOriginal airdatePerformersDVD release
1What Does Music Mean?18 January 1958Sep 2004
2What is American Music?1 February 1958Aaron CoplandSep 2004
3What is Orchestration?8 March 1958Sep 2004
4What Makes Music Symphonic?13 December 1958Sep 2004
5What is Classical Music?24 January 1959Sep 2004
6Humor in Music28 February 1959Sep 2004
7What is a Concerto?28 March 1959John Corigliano Sr.; John WummerSep 2004
8Who is Gustav Mahler?7 February 1960Reri Grist; Helen Raab; William LewisSep 2004
9Young Performers No. 16 March 1960Daniel Domb; Kenneth Schermerhorn; Barry Finclair; Stefan B. Mengelberg; Alexandra WagerNov 2013
10Unusual Instruments of Present, Past, and Future27 March 1960New York Pro Musica; Noah Greenberg; Vladimir Ussachevsky; Anita DarianNov 2013
11The Second Hurricane24 April 1960The High School of Music & Art
12Overtures and Preludes8 January 1961Nov 2013
13Aaron Copland Birthday Party12 February 1961Aaron Copland; William WarfieldNov 2013
14Young Performers No. 219 March 1961Lynn Harrell; Elyakum Shapirra; Jung-Ja Kim; Russell Stanger; Veronica Tyler; Gregory Millar; Henry ChapinNov 2013
15Folk Music in the Concert Hall9 April 1961Marni NixonSep 2004
16What is Impressionism?23 November 1961Sep 2004
17The Road to Paris18 January 1962Zara NelsovaNov 2013
18Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky26 March 1962Sep 2004
19Young Performers No. 314 April 1962Seiji Ozawa; Gary Karr; Maurice Peress; John Canarina; Ruth & Naomi Segal; Paula Robison; Paul Green; Tony Cirone; David HopperNov 2013
20The Sound of a Hall21 November 1962John Corigliano, Sr.; Frank Gullino; Joseph Bernstein; William DembinskyNov 2013
21What is a Melody?21 December 1962Sep 2004
22Young Performers No. 415 January 1963Joan Weiner; Yuri Krasnopolsky; Claudia Hoca; Zoltán Rozsnyai; Pamela Paul; Serge Fournier; André WattsNov 2013
23The Latin American Spirit8 March 1963Netania DavrathSep 2004
24A Tribute to Teachers29 November 1963Nov 2013
25Young Performers No. 523 December 1963Heidi Lehwalder; Amos Eisenberg; Weldon Berry, Jr.; Claudio Abbado; Shulamit Ran ; Pedro Calderon; Stephen E. Kates; Zdeněk KošlerNov 2013
26The Genius of Paul Hindemith23 February 1964Nov 2013
27Jazz in the Concert Hall11 March 1964Gunther Schuller; Aaron CoplandSep 2004
28What is Sonata Form?6 November 1964Veronica TylerSep 2004
29Farewell to Nationalism30 November 1964Nov 2013
30Young Performers No. 628 January 1965Patricia Michaelian; James Boswell IVNov 2013
31A Tribute to Sibelius19 February 1965Sergiu LucaSep 2004
32Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals29 November 1965Sep 2004
33The Sound of an Orchestra14 December 1965Sep 2004
34A Birthday Tribute to Shostakovich5 January 1966Sep 2004
35Young Performers No. 722 February 1966Paul Schoenfeld; Stephanie Sebastian;David Oei; Horacio Gutiérrez; James DePreist; Jacques Houtmann; Edo de WaartNov 2013
36What Is a Mode?23 November 1966Sep 2004
37Young Performers No. 827 January 1967Elmar Oliveira; Mark Salkind; Fred Alston; Donald Green; Juan Pablo Izquierdo; Sylvia Caduff; George Reid; Young Uck KimNov 2013
38Charles Ives: American Pioneer23 February 1967Nov 2013
39Alumni Reunion19 April 1967Stephen E. Kates; Veronica Tyler; André WattsNov 2013
40A Toast to Vienna in ¾ Time25 December 1967Christa Ludwig; Walter BerrySep 2004
41Forever Beethoven28 January 1968Joseph Kalichstein; Paul CapolongoNov 2013
42Young Performers No. 931 March 1968Lawrence Foster; Alois Springer; Martin and Steven Vann; Helen Quach, Michael DeTempleNov 2013
43Quiz-Concert: How Musical Are You?26 May 1968Sep 2004
44Fantastic Variations 25 December 1968Lorne Munroe, cellistNov 2013
45Bach Transmogrified27 April 1969Michael Korn; Leopold Stokowski; Moog synthesizer; New York Rock and Roll EnsembleNov 2013
46Berlioz Takes a Trip25 May 1969Sep 2004
47Two Ballet Birds14 September 1969Sep 2004
48Fidelio: A Celebration of Life29 March 1970Forest Warren; Anita Darian; Howard Ross; David CumberlandSep 2004
49The Anatomy of a Symphony Orchestra24 May 1970Nov 2013
50A Copland Celebration27 December 1970Stanley DruckerNov 2013
51Thus Spake Richard Strauss4 April 1971Nov 2013
52Liszt and the Devil13 February 1972Nov 2013
53Holst: The Planets26 March 1972Nov 2013

Kultur International Films released Volume I on DVD in 2004 and Volume II on DVD in 2013. Each volume contains more than twenty hours of concerts.

Young People's Concerts after Bernstein

Each season, several different conductors led the Young People's Concerts. Michael Tilson Thomas became a regular during the 1970s, but other conductors included figures like Erich Leinsdorf, Pierre Boulez, Igor Buketoff, Zubin Mehta, Aaron Copland, and later Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, and André Previn.
Currently, the New York Philharmonic presents four Young People's Concerts each season, in addition to concerts on tour, most recently in Hong Kong on February 17, 2008. In New York, Delta David Gier is conductor and host—the first person to lead all such concerts in a season since 1952. Each season is themed as a unit—for instance the four ages of music—and the live performance is complemented by live images projected on a large screen, in addition to actors, dancers, and singers who help bring themes to life. Noted playwright Tom Dulack scripts the concerts. Each concert is preceded by Kidzone Live, an interactive music fair engaging over 1000 children in the themes of the concert with hands-on activities on all four level of the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall.
In 2005, the New York Philharmonic initiated a sister series called Very Young People's Concerts, performed by an ensemble of eight to ten musicians of the Philharmonic at Merkin Concert Hall. Children arrive for musical games played with individual musicians, then sit down for a 30-minute concert featuring a story set to a major piece of music, like one of The Four Seasons of Vivaldi, or a portion of Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F. Children try small string instruments before they leave. The Very Young People's Concerts also sell out on subscription.