Where Was ‘Maestro’ Filmed?

10.01.2024 - 18:41 / cntraveler.com

When watching Maestro, it’s easy to feel as though no world exists beyond the one shared between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Monteleagre. The film, for the most part, is concerned only with the couple, their domestic life, and the turbulence of their romance. But wherever a sense of place is cultivated to its fullest potential—in a dreamy mid-century Big Apple, for example, or on the Bernstein’s Connecticut estate, and especially across the pond in the English town of Ely—there’s magic to be found. These are the real sidewalks that Lenny and Felicia strolled along, the homes they shared, and the concert venues where he played and she waited in the wings.

Product designer Kevin Thompson sat down with Condé Nast Traveler to unpack how he went about creating the film’s world, one that often feels mystical and dream like despite actually being very real. From Fairfield County to an Anglican cathedral unlike any in the world, these are the spots you’ll find in Maestro.

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London Symphony Chorus soloists Isabel Leonard and Rosa Feola with Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro's recreation of Bernstein's 1973 Mahler concert at Ely Cathedral.

What was your approach to creating the world of the Bernsteins?

Right from the beginning, we talked about authenticity and intimacy being key to the story. We wanted to really be with Lenny and Felicia emotionally, rather than a traditional biopic. It was more about their relationship, the love story and what came after. And so we wanted to use the real places where they were—the real Carnegie Hall for when he gets his first big break, and Ely Cathedral in the United Kingdom for his big Mahler concert toward the end of the movie. Those were the big, heavy bookend production pieces. We looked at a lot of possible substitutions for Ely that never felt right, because we really needed it to be one of the biggest Gothic cathedrals in the world to get that scale. And so we went to Ely.

What can you tell us about Ely?

It was really amusing to take over this little town of Ely—I don’t know if you’ve ever been there. It’s about two hours north of London, this little village with lots of greens, cobblestone streets, and old shops and things like that. But right in the middle is this massive Gothic Cathedral, one of the largest in Europe, just in the center of this storybook town—if you go on Google Images, you’ll see how striking it is… I went there to study it as an architecture student, back in the ‘80s. The circus came to town when we had the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Choir, 150