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Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

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Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

What do crockery and sweat have to do with the history of classical music? The answer lies with its fans.

Meet hosts Dr. Kate Guthrie and Dr. Flora Willson as they discuss why we need to talk about classical music fandom. 

We share stories of fandom from our own lives. We tell the story of how Leonard Bernstein, the composer of West Side Story, became the most famous classical music star of his generation. And we reveal how the thousands of fan letters he received ended up in DC’s prestigious Library of Congress.

We discuss the wackiest letters from the archive, including one from a group of nuns who had created a Bernstein-themed table-setting for a competition; one from a couple who wanted to own a piece of Bernstein’s crockery; and another from a listener who thought Bernstein was too sweaty.

Finally, meet letter-writer Cheryl Melody Baskin, who describes her surprise at being reunited with a letter she sent to Bernstein over 6 decades ago.

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

From ‘Swifties’ to ‘Trekkies’, ‘Potterheads’ to ‘Twihards’, fans of popular culture often proclaim their fandom with pride. But the idea of fandom still seems to make the classical music world uncomfortable. 

In this episode, we ask: what’s so bad about being a fan of classical music?! 

We take a deep dive into the history of the fandom to find out where the word ‘fan’ comes from. We explore how the popular music industry, Beatlemania and television made it controversial to be a fan of classical music. And we investigate how fans connected with celebrities in an age before social media.

From Leonard Bernstein's archive, we discuss letters from a young woman who lost her fiancé in the Holocaust, a teenager who is determined to prove he’s different from Bernstein’s other fans, and a secretary who felt rather embarrassed about her decision to write.

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

For decades, critics have been slamming the classical music world for its elitism. Meanwhile, fans insist that classical music is for everyone. What’s all the fuss about?

In this episode, we ask: why is classical music’s elitist reputation so contentious? 

We explore how in the 1950s and 1960s - when Bernstein was at the height of his celebrity - the USA’s rapidly expanding middle class embraced classical music as a cultural equivalent of the white picket fence. We discuss musicians from Bernstein to Nigel Kennedy who have flouted the rules. And we reflect on how, in pushing the boundaries, they helped some fans to feel a sense of belonging, while others found themselves feeling excluded.

From Bernstein's archive, we meet a father who wants his children to learn “proper conduct,” a woman enraged by Bernstein’s “lunatic” conducting, and a couple of writers who are grateful for his performances of “longhair music.”

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Ask any classical music boffin, and they’ll tell you that you can’t just listen to classical music. It’s a skill that you have to learn. But what about our gut response to music – where does that come into it? 

In this episode, we ask: is there a correct way to listen to classical music? 

We recount our own experiences of being taught how to listen at school and university. We discuss what Bernstein thought the Beatles had in common with Schumann – and why drawing this comparison was controversial. And we explore how his broadcasts encouraged both emotional and intellectual responses to classical music in a way that was deeply countercultural.

From Bernstein’s archive, we meet a classical music educator eager to convert “lay listeners,” a high school senior for whom Bernstein became an emotional guide, and a young person whose concert viewing has made old before his time. 

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Classical music usually conjures up images of civilised rather than raunchy behaviour. But many of Bernstein’s fans found him seriously sexy – and they were not afraid to tell him.

In this episode, we ask: how did Bernstein’s body help to make him an icon of the classical music world?

We reflect on how ideas about "acceptable conduct" constrained sexual expression in Bernstein’s America. We discuss the gaps between sexual values and sexual practice that were exposed by his contemporary Alfred Kinsey’s ground-breaking research. And we consider how women used fan letters to voice their sexuality in a way that wasn’t permitted in other social spheres.

Through letters from Bernstein's archive, we investigate the variety of ways in which women expressed their sexual attraction – from a woman who claims rather unpersuasively that she’s more interested in Bernstein’s artistry than his appearance to a teenager who lays it all bare. 

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, the Sex Pistols … the soundtracks of teenage self-discovery are many. Rarely do we think to include classical music on such a list – but Bernstein’s young fans show that it should be. 

In this episode, we ask: how does being a fan of something help us build our identities?

We share our memories of childhood books that enabled us to explore our sense of self. We consider what Swifties can teach us about becoming and being a fan. We explore what classical music fandom looked like in Bernstein’s day, and why celebrities are such useful figures in our search for ourselves.

From Bernstein’s archive, we meet three angsty teenagers: one aspiring to be Beethoven, another whose musical tastes have left her excluded by her peers, and a third in crisis, writing to thank Bernstein for “practically saving her life.”

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Autotune scandals, controversies about artists selling-out, disagreements over the “right” way to play Beethoven: if these tell you one thing, it’s that we expect artists to be authentic. But how do you judge authenticity? 

In this episode, we ask: what does it mean to be “for real” in the classical music world?

We explore why, for more than a century, commercial success and artistic integrity have often been considered mutually exclusive. We ask if the kind of person someone is should affect whether and how we listen to their music. And we discuss why we both love and hate celebrities disappointing us.

From Bernstein's archive, we meet a listener who is enchanted by Bernstein, another who is disbelieving, and a couple more wondering about the man behind the music.

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Anyone who’s ever been a real fan will know what it feels like to long for something – to meet a celebrity, for tickets to a gig, to own that rare collectible. In so many ways, fandom promises to make life better. But these promises can also draw attention to the shortcomings we feel in our lives. 

In this episode, we ask: what’s the deal with fandom and longing?

We explore how celebrities can seem both like us and superhuman at the same time. We reflect on how classical music fandom could make Bernstein's listeners feel like 1950’s suburban life was not as fulfilling as it was cracked up to be. And we hear Bernstein explaining why he was a fan of Beethoven. 

From Bernstein's the archive, we meet a housewife whose dinner has been ruined by Bernstein, a father yearning to reconnect with his younger musical self, and a fan who finds in Bernstein hope for nothing less than world peace.

Send a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Join hosts Dr. Kate Guthrie and Dr. Flora Willson in a documentary-style podcast exploring the untold stories of classical music fandom.

***

What does it mean to “be a fan” of something? We usually associate the phrase with raucous sports enthusiasts or wild popular music devotees – the likes of Swifties and Stans, Beatlemaniacs or the Beyhive. With its silent audiences and erudite atmosphere, classical music probably doesn’t spring immediately to mind.

But classical music fandom totally exists, and we’ve got the receipts to prove it!

In our 8-part Series 1, we uncover a historic collection of fan mail sent to none other than the Leonard Bernstein – composer of West Side Story, celebrity conductor, and pin-up for a generation of classical music lovers. We also interrogate some of the original fan mail writers, asking what motivated them to put pen to paper over a half a century ago.

Always entertaining, at times deeply moving, and sometimes rather raunchy, Dear Maestro gives a glimpse into the feverish desires and heart-felt longing that drive people’s passion for classical music.

Send us a text

Visit www.dearmaestro.org for bonus content, including letters read-out and discussed by their writers.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

Producers: Rowan Bishop and Kate Guthrie

Hosts: Flora Willson and Kate Guthrie

With thanks to: Cheryl Melody Baskin, Michael Ellison, Cassandra Fenton, Mark Keedwell, Melanie Shaffer, Karen Skinazi, Chuck Talley and Justin Williams.

Funded by: the Arts and Humanities Research Council.