He was so affable and, sort of, available … and at the same time, very heady and a musical genius. I've always loved his music, but, of course, in those cases he sort of did a comparative music lesson basically, during the concerts he would play several different things, even covered the Beatles. When I was a young man, when I was 6, 7, and 8 years old, I used to go to Leonard Bernstein's concerts for children in New York City, so I have a specific connection with him there. On his lifelong appreciation of Leonard Bernstein's music: It seemed very appealing to me to go ahead and just give it a shot. So being the kind of hairpin I am, you know, I just try different things anyway. On how he came to perform in his first opera:Ībout eight months ago I got a call from the famously charming Placido Domingo, who basically said, "So we'd like you to be with us for this Candide." So it's not a particularly complex set of reasons … but what was funny was, I've never done an opera. In a conversation with NPR's Scott Simon, Grammer explains how acting and music pulled him out of his childhood shyness, and why personal hardships such as divorce and the early loss of his father and sister ultimately came to brighten his outlook on life.Ĭlick the audio link above to hear the full interview with NPR's Scott Simon. While far from his first singing performance, the show is Grammer's first time on the opera stage. Pangloss, the bullheaded optimist and subject of much of the story's satire, and as Voltaire. In this year of the composer's centennial, the Los Angeles Opera has mounted a new production of Candide, starring the Emmy winner in a dual role - as Dr. Like the psychiatrist he spent two decades portraying on Frasier and Cheers, Kelsey Grammer loves Bernstein.
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