For New York For New York For New York (Variations on Themes of Leonard Bernstein) (originally titled To Lenny! To Lenny!) is a one-movement orchestral composition by the American composer John Williams. Written as a tribute to fellow composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, the piece premiered on the last day of Bernstein's 70th birthday gala at Tanglewood on August 28, 1988. The premiere was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Williams, who was then conductor of its sister orchestra, the Boston Pops. Music critic John Rockwell of "The New York Times" described the work as "feathery and flashy." "For New York" utilizes
Ernst Hoffmann (conductor) Ernst Hoffmann (conductor) Ernst Heinrich Hoffmann (June 18, 1899–January 3, 1956) was an American conductor who served as the music director of the Houston Symphony for eleven years. Hoffmann was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Although Ernst was an accomplished musician in his youth, during which he studied piano with the noted Harold Bauer, he enrolled in the anthropology program at Harvard University. Hoffmann was graduated cum laude in that discipline, whereupon he was offered a position on the Harvard anthropology faculty. He chose instead to go to Germany in 1920