Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. He was photographed by Karsh in 1985, the year that Bernstein received his Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. It was also the year that Bernstein brought the European Community Youth Orchestra on a “Journey for Peace” tour across Europe and Japan, performing at the Hiroshima Peace Ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the bombing.

Bernstein was born on this day, August 25, in 1918 (d. 1990).