Bradley Cooper’s Maestro: the Leonard Bernstein story

Dr Joseph Tolz, from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, explores the legacy of the great American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein as portrayed in the new Netflix film Maestro directed by, and starring Bradley Cooper. "Maestro" is a word that resonates across concert music. From the Italian word for master, it is applied most frequently to a respected and established conductor of operas and orchestras but can also be used to refer to virtuoso instrumentalists. Despite its gendered form (male), the term has been regularly applied to female conductors, instrumentalists and others who have achieved significant artistic recognition. Leonard Bernstein, the character at the centre of Maestro, a new film from director (and star) Bradley Cooper, was not just a great conductor. While the word maestro certainly sums up his career, ego and personality, early in the film Lenny (as he was affectionately known) lists all his achievements, then somewhat dryly sums himself up as "a musician". The life of 'a musician'.