UNCSA and Bernstein have a lot of history together! The conductor opened the Stevens Center in 1983 with a gala performance that the New York Times called 'a glittering program of music, dance and drama'. Other attendees included Agnes de Mille, Isaac Stern, former President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford and Lady Bird Johnson.
You can learn more about the Stevens Center and its opening at the UNCSA Archives, and view images of Leonard Bernstein at UNCSA in our Photograph Collection Database.
(Conductor Leonard Bernstein and violinist Isaac Stern rehearsing with NCSA Orchestra for Stevens Center Opening, April 1983. Photograph by David Reavis. Photograph Collection, UNCSA Archives, University of North Carolina School of the Arts.)