Jamie Bernstein missed the first time that Sarah Ross and her Marana High School choir performed Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" to open the 2018 Tucson Desert Song Festival.
She was in the audience of several hundred days later when Ross and her choir of about three dozen performed her father's piece a second time at a Jewish Community Center symposium exploring the impact of Leonard Bernstein's Jewish faith on his music.
"I thought I’d had all the happiness I could hold from my six busy days – but the ardor of those kids singing 'Chich,' as my dad affectionately called it, was deeply moving," Jamie Bernstein wrote Thursday on her family's website . "Their final chorale was so breathless and heartfelt that tears just rolled right down my cheeks."
Bernstein was the artist-in-residence for the Tucson festival, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of her father's birthday. In addition to participating in the JCC panel discussion, she also was the narrator in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's performance of her father's Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish" the opening weekend of the festival, which wrapped up Feb. 4.
Bernstein wrote that "Tucson, Arizona, is pulling off a marvel" with the festival. She also applauded:
• Song Festival Director George Hanson, who studied with her father, who she said "really gets the multiplicities of my father – and he’s helped bring forth a citywide celebration worthy of the 100th birthday. ... George Hanson galvanized all these different institutions in one city to participate in Bernstein at 100 (#Bernsteinat100)."
• TSO Conductor José Luis Gomez: "Remember that name. This Venezuelan-born conductor is the real deal. And I daresay I’ve had a lifetime training in detecting real-deal conductors. Maestro Gomez seemed to contain the entire 'Kaddish' score inside his body; I never heard a more rhythmically visceral performance. Also, he grunted his way through the music on the podium – just like my own dad!"
• Sarah Ross and the Marana High School choir: "Their wonderful director, Sarah Ross, had guided them through a challenging musical experience that they would treasure all their lives."
