Movies Guide

NEW YORK - They threw a birthday party for him even though he couldn’t attend. And it wasn’t even his birthday.

Carnegie Hall opened its 118th season with a celebration of Leonard Bernstein, the conductor, composer, musical Confucius and mentor who died 18 years ago at age 72.

Wednesday night’s performance, videotaped for a national TV broadcast, was hosted by one of the master’s proteges - Michael Tilson Thomas, who led his San Francisco Symphony and an all-star cast of soloists.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano Dawn Upshaw, baritone Thomas Hampson, Broadway’s Christine Ebersole and some fine Juilliard School students shared the stage in this joyous tribute nearly a month after what would have been Bernstein’s 90th birthday.