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Perhaps best-known for the musical West Side Story, composer Leonard Bernstein was one of the most accomplished and influential musicians of the 20th century. For fifteen years, beginning in 1958, Bernstein attempted to turn the youth of America on to music through a series of televised performances called Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts. Originally broadcast on February 1, 1958, this episode finds Bernstein explaining the influences behind and elements that comprise several different styles of American music. Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts: What Is American Music? includes select pieces by such composers as Copland, Gilbert, Gershwin, and Dvorak.