Leonard Bernstein (1918–90), creator of the Broadway masterpiece, West Side Story, was the best loved and most successful conductor of his generation. He inspired fellow American musicians, being the first native American to direct a major American orchestra, and the first to conquer Europe. This biography covers all aspects of Bernstein’s career, from his extraordinary early rise to fame as a conductor to his work as a world-famous composer, including his musicals and the score for On the Waterfront. It examines the paradoxes of a man who was brilliant, articulate, witty and charming but could also be vain, egocentric and demanding.

"Paul Myers writes concisely and entertainingly... Will make readers long to hear the music."—Times Literary Supplement

On the 20th Century Composers Series

"As a series, Phaidon's 20th Century Composers has brought remarkable variety and a welter of information, both necessary and delightfully trivial. Intended both for the general reader and for the more enthusiastically musical."—The Scotsman

Paul Myers is a freelance classical record producer whose work for Decca and Colombia (now Sony) and Naxos brought him into contact with Bernstein over many years.