Robert Bernstein

Who was Robert Bernstein?

Robert Bernstein, sometimes credited as R. Berns, was an American comic book writer, playwright and concert impresario, notable as the founder of the Island Concert Hall recital series which ran for 15 years on Long Island.

His presentations spanned three decades. In 1951, when he co-founded the Roslyn Music Group, presenting chamber-music ensembles and soloists on Long Island, his concert career as an impresario was underway. Because Long Island had "an omnivorous appetite for the arts", as he phrased it, Bernstein launched the nonprofit Concert Hall subscription series in 1964, offering 30 annual performances of classical, jazz, dance and theater, including Broadway road company shows and New York Philharmonic concerts. The popular events were staged at Long Island University's C. W. Post Center, the Nassau Coliseum and other Long Island auditoriums.

Bernstein's one-act plays received a posthumous performance in 1993 at the Arena Players Repertory Theater in East Farmingdale, Long Island.