Leonard Bernstein, one of the most important figures in twentieth-century music, was born in Massachusetts into a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. He had his first piano lessons in 1928, and soon recognised that his life was to be dominated by music. In 1930 he began piano lessons with Susan Williams at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, giving his first piano recital two years later, when he also started to study piano with Helen Coates, later to be his personal secretary. In 1934 he played Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Boston Public School Orchestra. During this period he produced, and performed in, many amateur theatrical productions.