After his unforgettable work with young musicians in Tanglewood and Salzau,
Leonard Bernstein was invited to conduct a similar summer academy in Asia.
His enthusiastic acceptance led to the founding of the Pacific Music
Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Rigorous auditions were held, and young
musicians brought together to form an orchestra. They were chosen from all
the nations bordering on the Pacific: the U.S., Canada, the South American
countries, China, Japan ,Taiwan, Korea, etc.
Just before the Pacific Music Festival was inaugurated in June 1990,
Leonard Bernstein fell ill. But despite his doctors' warnings, and marked
by his serious illness, he refused to let his "kids" down and flew to
Japan. With unbelievable intensity, passion, wit and charm, Bernstein
worked with the youths on Schumann's Symphony No. 2, one of the Maestro's
favorite orchestral pieces. This production is the last visual record of
the Maestro at work.
