Carnegie Hall

Even if he had played no role in the saving of Carnegie Hall from demolition, with more than 250 performances as recitalist and soloist stretching across six decades from 1943 through 2001, Isaac Stern would still be a major figure in the Hall’s history. The list of conductors under whom he performed reads like a who’s who from the latter half of the 20th century, among them Rodzinski, Mitropoulos, Stokowski, Szell, Walter, Ormandy, Bernstein, Schneider, Solti, Mehta, Barenboim, Rostropovich, Levine, Muti, Slatkin, Dutoit, and Ozawa.

Stern’s association with Carnegie Hall is now often more closely associated with his successful campaign to save it, culminating in 1960 with the New York City Board of Estimate approving the purchase of Carnegie Hall for $5 million. He continued to perform here regularly throughout the following four decades, his final performance taking place on June 9, 2001—a free concert as part of the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop. Stern passed away just more than three months later on September 22, 2001. Carnegie Hall’s main auditorium was dedicated in his honor in 1997.