He’s a towering figure in American music. Here’s your last chance to see a local tribute this year

Justin Raffa was in elementary school when Leonard Bernstein died.

Raffa, who’d grow up to become artistic director of Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, didn’t know much about the composer back then.

But his teacher tuned the TV to a Bernstein tribute, and “I remember thinking, ‘This is a big deal. We just lost a very important person,’ ” Raffa said.

Of course, he was right.

Bernstein remains a towering figure in American music nearly three decades after his 1990 death.

And performing arts groups around the world – including Raffa’s Mastersingers – are presenting special concerts this year to mark what would have been his 100th birthday.

The Mastersingers tribute to Bernstein is Friday and Saturday at the Uptown Theatre in Richland.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with Raffa giving a “behind the music” talk a half-hour before each show.

Bernstein was a renowned composer and conductor known for works from “Candide” to “West Side Story.”

In the first half of the Mastersingers tribute, five choir members will present Bernstein’s one-act opera “Trouble in Tahiti,” with help from a chamber orchestra of Mid-Columbia Symphony musicians.

The singers are Erin Patterson, Jeremy Irland, Patrick Killoran, Karl Hedlund and Karen Walley.

Bernstein started writing the piece while on his honeymoon in 1951. It centers on a husband and wife who are longing for love and connection.

The second half of the tribute will feature several other Mastersingers performing some of Bernstein’s solo works. They are Paige English, Mitzi Holmes, Kimber Keel, Kelli Kruse, Greg Levy, Paris Rodgers, Cynthia Vaughn and Weston Walker.

The show “spans the whole gamut of (Bernstein’s) compositional career. We’re going through five decades of his music to show not only how his compositional style evolved, but the influences throughout his life that led him to write these pieces,” Raffa said.

And it’s “the last chance in the Tri-Cities to go to a program that celebrates Leonard Bernstein’s centenary – something that’s being celebrated around the world,’ he said. “Here’s your local opportunity, in the Tri-Cities, if you want to connect to this and help celebrate and honor this important figure.”

Tickets are $25 for adults and free for K-12 students. Season passes also are available.

More information and tickets: mcmastersingers.org, 509-460-1766.