For renowned musician Joseph Giunta, his admiration for Leonard Bernstein can be traced back to childhood. Each Saturday afternoon, Giunta would sit himself in front of his family’s black-and-white television set, where he would watch the great American conductor lead the New York Philharmonic in one of their magnificent performances.
Even at eight years old, Giunta was mesmerized by the man he saw on TV, who would emphatically wave his baton and, between performances, share lessons about classical music. Giunta was so taken by Bernstein, in fact, that his parents bought a baton for him to follow along with the program.
After more than a year of tuning in to watch Young People’s Concerts on CBS, Giunta’s parents treated him to something better than a baton. The family traveled from their New Jersey home into the heart of Manhattan to see Bernstein conduct the broadcast live at Carnegie Hall.
It was there, backstage after the show, that Giunta met his idol for the first time. But lucky for the young music fan, it would not be the last.
Passing the baton
Today, Giunta is the music director and conductor of the Des Moines Symphony. For 34 years, he has lead the city’s symphony orchestra. In that time, he has spent the better part of 20 years developing an academy for young musicians. He has also worked to make classical music more accessible through free outdoor concerts, including Yankee Doodle Pops, which was first organized in 1994.
According to Giunta, his decades-long career as a musician, composer, conductor and teacher has been greatly influenced by Bernstein.
“All my experiences with him had this in common,” Giunta said. “He was a man that loved people. He was a man that loved music and he was a man that loved teaching.”
This weekend, audiences in Des Moines will have the opportunity to hear from Giunta at the Varsity Cinema’s two-night premiere of Maestro, the new biopic about Bernstein’s life and work. Giunta will share stories about his time working with Bernstein and his continued relationship with the Bernstein family before the 7 p.m. screenings on Dec. 15 and 16.
Maestro is directed by Bradley Cooper, who also stars as the famed conductor alongside a cast that includes Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke and Sarah Silverman.
Tales of Tanglewood
Aside from their backstage introduction in his youth, Giunta truly got to know Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass., where he attended a summer training academy at the age of 17.
Giunta recalls what it was like to see Bernstein drive his white Mercedes-Benz convertible along the Tanglewood grounds.
“He was like a movie star. He was a bigger-than-life personality,” Giunta said. “He was my idol. He was my role model. I wanted to be like him.”
During that summer in the late 1960s, Giunta observed Bernstein rehearsing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra every day. According to Giunta, that level of access was invaluable, because Bernstein did most of his teaching outside of the classroom.
“The classes were at nine in the morning,” Giunta recalled. “He hated it. He just absolutely hated it. You know, we never learned anything from him in class.”
Giunta explained how some of Bernstein’s greatest lessons came when you least expected them.
“We all learned the most from him after a concert at the Boston Symphony. We’d go to one of the little taverns downtown, and then he would start drinking and start eating,” Giunta said. “And then he’d go to the piano, and at three in the morning, that's when he started to teach. And he would want to know what we heard, what we didn't hear. Was it too fast? Was it too slow? Was it too loud? All these things.”
Decades later, Giunta says he still applies Bernstein’s teachings to his work.
“It was a very positive and exciting experience for me,” Giunta said. “And to this day, there are certain things that came from him that I still say 45 years later.”
Beyond Bernstein
Outside of Bernstein’s lessons, Giunta grew close to the legendary composer and his family. He recalls the times he met Felicia Montealegre, Bernstein’s wife, who is played by Mulligan in Maestro.
“She was charming and lovely and beautiful and smart, and I think she understood exactly what her role was with him,” Giunta said. “She was his support — emotional support — that he needed at the time.”
Giunta also became friends with Bernstein’s son, Alexander. The two have kept in contact and, as Giunta noted, even collaborated on a theatrical production of West Side Story, Bernstein’s landmark 1957 musical, at Valley High School in West Des Moines.
Giunta has spent much of his career working with young people to help develop their musical talents, which was also one of Bernstein’s guiding missions in life.
“Bernstein said this: one of the great things that music can teach young people is how to listen. And as a young person, if you learn how to listen, you'll be a great citizen regardless of what you do,” Giunta recounted.
Olivia Guns, marketing manager at the Des Moines Symphony, hopes the screenings of Maestro at the Varsity Cinema will give people of all ages a chance to discover the power of classical music.
“I just love the idea of cinema as an entry point for people,” Guns said. “I mean, the next time we program a Bernstein piece, hopefully anyone who comes to our event will remember learning about this. They’ll feel the emotional, intellectual connection to this music and will want to see that live and hear what that sounds like in front of them.”
Ben Godar, executive director of the Varsity Cinema, says he looks forward to audiences connecting with the movie and hearing from Des Moines’ own local maestro.
“Maestro is a film that's getting a lot of awards buzz and one I know many people want to see,” Godar said. “But whether you're a film or music lover, the best way to experience Maestro in Des Moines will be on the big screen, with personal insights into Bernstein from Joseph Giunta.”
Tickets to the Des Moines Symphony event at the Varsity Cinema are available at varsitydesmoines.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Des Moines Symphony and the Varsity Cinema are sponsors of Iowa Public Radio.
