Google “Maestro,” the new Netflix film starring Bradley Cooper as the renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, and you’ll find out every miniscule detail about the biopic, which  is having its limited theatrical release in cinemas this week. What you probably won’t find is one of the most exciting, close-to-home details, a fact just announced: Bard College’s The Orchestra Now (TŌN) was selected to appear in the film as the youth orchestra performing Beethoven’s 8th Symphony under Bernstein’s conducting. Bernstein, Beethoven and Cooper, plus movie credits on your CV: How much more fabulous can it get?

The participation of the Bard College pre-professional graduate orchestra was hush hush until now.

“It was very secretive,” said TŌN Executive Director Kristin Roca. “It was shot in 2022, but we weren’t able to talk about it —we couldn’t even put it in an email. We weren’t sure we’d make it in, but we were under an NDA contract.”

In April of 2022, TŌN was approached by the film’s orchestra casting agent; the script included a 1989 Tanglewood performance by Bernstein with a youth orchestra. “They told us they had considered all of the other major pre-professional young orchestras on the east coast,” Roca said. By the end of the month, Cooper and the casting director had selected The Orchestra Now for the role. By May, the TŌN musicians were at Tanglewood, preparing to perform with “Lenny.”

The Orchestra Now performing at Jazz at Lincoln Center in October 2022

That month, the musicians were in costume fittings amid their busy schedule of TON concerts. Hair and makeup were considerations — today’s trend of dyed tips wouldn’t fly. And every orchestra member had to send in a photo of their instrument to ensure they weren’t too modern for the time portrayed. The string and wind instruments were deemed to be fine, but mallets for the timpani and percussion have changed over the years and had to be dialed back to 1989.

But despite the thrill of the movie-making glamour, the real excitment for the musicians, Roca said, was the opportunity to work with Yannik Nézet-Séguin, the Metropolitan Opera’s music director, who rehearsed them for several hours and then conducted the recording of the Beethoven symphony for the film. (The symphony will be included in the Deutsche Grammophon release of the film’s original soundtrack.)

While they were rehearsing and recording with Nezek-Seguin, Bradley Cooper was wandering around in full makeup.

“To be honest, I had no idea it was him,” Roca said. “When Yannick turned and saw him, in awe, that’s when we realized it was Bradley Cooper.”

After the recording was complete, Cooper joined the orchestra on stage to film the 1989 performance for the screen. TheTŌN musicians actually played the entire time, even when shooting with Bradley conducting them. Once the filming was done, the musicians were back on the bus to Bard for their concert the next day.

All in a day’s work, and part of the mission of The Orchestra Now, founded in 2015 as a graduate program at Bard College by conductor, educator and music historian Leon Botstein. The three-year program offers a fully-funded master’s degree in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies and a two-year advanced certificate in Orchestra Studies.

“We want to make sure these musicians can work in any part of the industry,” said Roca. “The curriculum trains them to explore all the aspects within the orchestral community and administration, so they’ll be set up for the rest of their career.”

Which might include the movies.

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