Enjoy an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve celebration, with hors d’oeuvres reception and home-cooked dinner, lively concert in the Barn, ice cream social, and midnight candlelight Meeting for Worship.

He was a fine pianist, brilliant composer, peerless educator, and perhaps the greatest conductor in modern times. Like no other musician of his age, Leonard Bernstein straddled extremely different musical arenas. An intellectual capable of writing complex symphonies, he was equally at home writing music for the Broadway stage, and with West Side Story, created the greatest postwar work of American musical theater.

In this 100th year of the anniversary of his birth, jump into The Worlds of Leonard Bernstein. Live with Lennie’s passion for American music. Engage with him as a crusader for progressive causes such as AIDS research, civil rights and gender equality. Search with him for answers to deep questions on meaning, identity and spirituality.

Leader(s)

Karl Middleman happily returns to Pendle Hill for another in a series of year-end courses from among his repertoire of 300 music presentations and classes. As both a conductor and educator, his work has been hailed for the easy way it mixes scholarship with showmanship. Karl has lectured for the Philadelphia Orchestra over 50 times and has received many awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Karl teaches at Temple University and Cabrini College.

As a regular participant in Karl’s New Years’ program remarked: “Karl brings a total command of the subject matter, great passion and enthusiasm, and a versatile and engaging style of presentation to his classes. They are not to be missed.”