the táruth

Lydia Tár Studying Under Leonard Bernstein Is Canon Now

Photo: Focus Features

It’s time to add another fun anecdote to the completely true list of facts about the one and only Lydia Tár. Expanding on the Tárverse, the family of famed composer Leonard Bernstein is confirming a disputed fact, one that the film’s director, Todd Field, denies himself, about the lore of Tár. In a letter to The New Yorker, the Bernstein estate refuted Field’s comment that Tár might’ve lied about studying under Bernstein. “As representatives of Bernstein’s estate, and in the spirit of the ongoing hubbub over the film, we can assure Field that his heroine was a teen-age prodigy whose talents were so formidable that she was granted special permission to be one of Bernstein’s conducting students at Tanglewood in the summer of 1990, during the final year of Bernstein’s life,” wrote Jamie, Alexander, and Nina Bernstein, the children of Leonard Bernstein.

While the timeline of Tár studies has been cleared up, there is still another question unanswered in the same article. Did Tár have an Emmy-winning guest appearance on Sesame Street? As we await comment from Cookie Monster or Big Bird, it’s a reminder that her legacy runs deeper than the Elmo and Rocco feud.

Lydia Tár Studying Under Leonard Bernstein Is Canon Now