{"id":463220,"date":"2022-06-15T16:23:26","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T13:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/leonard-bernstein-pal-reveals-secrets-of-bradley-cooper-biopic\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T16:23:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T13:23:26","slug":"leonard-bernstein-pal-reveals-secrets-of-bradley-cooper-biopic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/leonard-bernstein-pal-reveals-secrets-of-bradley-cooper-biopic\/","title":{"rendered":"#Leonard Bernstein pal reveals secrets of Bradley Cooper biopic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3cbc39127c7\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3cbc39127c7\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/leonard-bernstein-pal-reveals-secrets-of-bradley-cooper-biopic\/#%E2%80%9CLeonard_Bernstein_pal_reveals_secrets_of_Bradley_Cooper_biopic%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Leonard Bernstein pal reveals secrets of Bradley Cooper biopic&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CLeonard_Bernstein_pal_reveals_secrets_of_Bradley_Cooper_biopic%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Leonard Bernstein pal reveals secrets of Bradley Cooper biopic&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Over the past few weeks, Bradley Cooper has been seen in New York wearing a retro suit and a prosthetic nose for his latest role as Leonard Bernstein, for the upcoming Netflix film \u201cMaestro.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, a former protege and friend of the music legend is revealing private stories that the Oscar-nominated actor has likely never heard about the composer of \u201cWest Side Story\u201d \u2014 including how the married Bernstein slept with his prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u2019s boyfriend.<\/p>\n<p>Conductor Mark Janas, 70, was friends with Bernstein beginning in the mid 1970s until the composer\u2019s death in 1990, and last month he managed to get a letter to Cooper, through the actor\u2019s, Hollywood agent detailing some of his stories of \u201cthe great maestro,\u201d which he shared exclusively with The Post. <\/p>\n<p>Cooper, 47, is directing and starring in the movie, scheduled for release next year. <\/p>\n<p>Janas was 23 years old and an aspiring conductor when he met Bernstein, known to friends as Lenny, in the summer of 1975. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-sylvia-fine-mark-janas-hollywood-bowl-01.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Mark Janas (center) was 23 years old when he met famed conductor Leonard Bernstein (left) and formed a life-long friendship.\" class=\"wp-image-22653418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-sylvia-fine-mark-janas-hollywood-bowl-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-sylvia-fine-mark-janas-hollywood-bowl-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-sylvia-fine-mark-janas-hollywood-bowl-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Mark Janas (center) was 23 years old when he met famed conductor Leonard Bernstein (left) and formed a life-long friendship.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Mark Janas<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI was a bit unprepared for Lenny answering the door wearing a Speedo, flip flops and a white terrycloth bathrobe, with a glass of Scotch in one hand and a joint in the other,\u201d Janas wrote in the letter he sent to Cooper and shared with The Post.<\/p>\n<p>The conductor, then 56, was already established as one of the world\u2019s greatest musicians but had left his position as the longtime music director of the New York Philharmonic to focus on composing. Although he lived with his family in a sprawling eight-room apartment at the Dakota on Central Park West, he was staying that summer at the lakeside cottage of his manager Harry Kraut in the Berkshires.<\/p>\n<p>After Janas \u2014\u00a0a musical prodigy who began playing piano at 3 and composing music at 5 \u2014 nearly beat the maestro at the celebrity-guessing-<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> Botticelli, Bernstein invited him to rehearsals at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra\u2019s summer home. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-biopic-bradley-cooper-03.jpg?w=683\" alt=\"Bradley Cooper (above) is starring in a Netflix biopic about Bernstein, due in 2023.\" class=\"wp-image-22653459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-biopic-bradley-cooper-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1366 1366w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-biopic-bradley-cooper-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-biopic-bradley-cooper-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=683 683w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/bernstein-biopic-bradley-cooper-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=341 341w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\"\/><figcaption>Bradley Cooper (above) is starring in a Netflix biopic about Bernstein, due in 2023.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">SteveSands\/NewYork<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a>wire\/MEGA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bernstein nicknamed Janas \u201cChico\u201d because he thought Janas resembled a young version of co<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>n Chico Marx.<\/p>\n<p>That summer they spent hours discussing music, and one day, at the grand piano in Bernstein\u2019s Tanglewood dressing room, Janas began to play Dmitri Shostakovich\u2019s Fifth Symphony. Janas described the Soviet composer\u2019s second movement as an elegy, \u201cin this case, for his creative freedom after artistic censorship by the Soviets\u201d who had punished him for becoming too avant-garde. Bernstein was deeply impressed by the analysis, and on August 9, 1975, when news broke that Shostakovich had died,  Bernstein used Janas\u2019 interpretation of the Fifth Symphony during a concert performance in Amsterdam. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told me that he remembered our conversation and that night he programmed the movement into his concert at the Concertgebouw to honor the composer,\u201d Janas told The Post. \u201cI can\u2019t even tell you how that made me feel. My eyes still well up whenever I think of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"821\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/felicia-alexander-leonard-jamie-bernstein-01.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Despite being married to wife Felicia, Bernstein had affairs with men.\" class=\"wp-image-22653603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/felicia-alexander-leonard-jamie-bernstein-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/felicia-alexander-leonard-jamie-bernstein-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/felicia-alexander-leonard-jamie-bernstein-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Despite being married to wife Felicia, Bernstein had affairs with men.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Bettmann Archive<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Months later, Janas found himself working as Bernstein\u2019s assistant at the Boston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. In 1977, Bernstein asked the Indiana University undergrad to conduct festivals of his music in Israel, Austria and Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n<p>In 1982, after Janas completed his masters degree in orchestral conducting at Rice University in Houston, he found himself in the audience at Jones Hall while Bernstein conducted Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cFrancesca da Rimini\u201d with the Israeli Philharmonic. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe audience had gotten a bit restless during the final stretch of the relatively unknown work,\u201d he said. Suddenly, Bernstein fell from his conductor\u2019s podium, and while he was being helped back up by the principal cellist and concertmaster, he was \u201cshouting at the top of his lungs, \u2018Keep going!&#8217;\u201d He repeated it in Hebrew, Yiddish, German and Russian, said Janas, and the audience was on the edge of their seats. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/leonard-bernstein-conducting-01.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Janas says Bernstein's passion for music is a constant reminder to dedicate himself to the craft.\" class=\"wp-image-22653581\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/leonard-bernstein-conducting-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/leonard-bernstein-conducting-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/leonard-bernstein-conducting-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Janas says Bernstein\u2019s passion for music is a constant reminder to dedicate himself to the craft.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cit is impossible to communicate what it was like hearing the musicians sounding like they were somehow fighting a war and running from a wildfire right through the coda to the very end of the piece,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ovation was deafening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Janas worshipped the man who he called the most documented musician of all time, he was also clear-eyed about some of his shortcomings. At one point, Bernstein, who was married with three children, had an affair with Janas\u2019 boyfriend. Bernstein\u2019s homosexuality was well known although he had promised his wife to keep his dalliances discreet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are a homosexual and may never change,\u201d Bernstein\u2019s wife, Felicia Montealegre, wrote in a letter after their 1951 wedding. \u201cI am willing to accept you as you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe maestro\u2019s position on his pedestal was unassailable \u2014 after all, it was I who put him up there,\u201d said Janas, referring to his own betrayal by the conductor. \u201cBut now I could spot clay feet for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, Janas continued to be inspired by the mercurial conductor.  \u201cThere\u2019s a small photo on a shelf above my piano: Lenny, conducting, his head back, eyes closed, absorbed in a moment of musical bliss,\u201d he said. \u201cIf ever I felt inspiration or energy waning, Or \u2026 fear or self-doubt, all I had to do was look up and Lenny was there to remind me that, in the end, it\u2019s all poetry and passion. You have to give in to it.\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/06\/15\/leonard-bernstein-pal-reveals-secrets-of-bradley-cooper-biopic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Leonard Bernstein pal reveals secrets of Bradley Cooper biopic&#8221; Over the past few weeks, Bradley Cooper has been seen in New York wearing a retro suit and a prosthetic nose for his latest role as Leonard Bernstein, for the upcoming Netflix film \u201cMaestro.\u201d Now, a former protege and friend of the music legend is revealing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":463221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/leonard-bernstein-conducting-bradley-cooper-janas.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[130325,48178,71032],"class_list":["post-463220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-6-15-22","tag-bradley-cooper","tag-classical-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}