Hershey Felder, who has performed as George Gershwin, Chopin and Beethoven for Chicago audiences, may be taking on his greatest challenge yet: Leonard Bernstein.

Felder debuts his new one-man show, "Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein" in two programs to close the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park.

Channeling music greats of the past is not new to Felder, and his skill at it is well known to Chicago audiences. His first show, "George Gershwin Alone," spent 70 weeks at the Royal George Theatre in 2004-2005, and the world premiere of his "Monsieur Chopin" took place here.

In 2009, he debuted "Beethoven, As I Knew Him" at the Drury Lane Water Tower, then performed all three shows in repertory, calling the trilogy "The Composer Sonata."

Felder, a classically trained pianist and composer in his own right, mixes narrative and music in each show and generally focuses on a single event or time period in the composer’s life, then radiates outward from there to give a more complete picture of the artist and his work.

With the present show, he’s dealing with something a little different. For one thing, Bernstein wore many hats during his lifetime – conductor, composer, performer, educator. For another, even more than with Gershwin, there’s no shortage of people alive today who remember seeing Bernstein, who died 20 years ago, either live or on television, a medium he used to great advantage.

Felder, who lives in Paris with his wife, Kim Campbell, who once served as prime minister of Canada, was in Europe and not available for an interview, but he answered some questions about the new show by e-mail.

Why did you decide to do a show about Leonard Bernstein?

Over the years of performing the other characters, quite a few audience members would ask me when I would be presenting Bernstein. Perhaps it seemed a given -- theatrical classical Jewish fellow ... not certain -- but enough people brought it up, so I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to investigate the possibility.

How is "becoming" a more contemporary figure like Bernstein different from your previous shows?

The language is more what we’re used to nowadays. However, creating a character is just as layered and difficult regardless of whether it is a character from the past or one from the present or recent past. In fact, perhaps somewhat more complicated since we clearly know how Bernstein looked and sounded.

Since you are also Jewish, do you explore Bernstein’s Jewish side and beliefs?,p>

Exploring this has less to do with the fact that I am Jewish than it does with the fact that Bernstein’s Jewishness played a great role in his composing, as well as his everyday life. The good part about this is that I completely understand "where he comes from" because I too am a first generation child of European immigrant parents rooted in Jewishness.

What do you want audience members to take away from your show about Bernstein?

Just because one may be blessed with the wonderful gifts that Leonard Bernstein was blessed with doesn’t mean that both the personal struggle and artistic struggle don’t continue.

Did you ever meet him? If so, what was the meeting like? What was he like?

No, I didn’t, but am friendly and have been for quite a while with many who were part of his intimate circle. Through them, I have somewhat gained an idea what it may have been like to be around him at the best of times, and the not so best of times.

What do you consider Bernstein’s most important contribution to be -- as a conductor, composer, educator, or all of them?

Everything Bernstein did in terms of his artistic contributions is important, not the least of which is the fact that he was both able and in demand to do so many artistic things. Too often, artists are pigeonholed and specific things become expected of them. I’m not certain that Bernstein believed in boundaries (of all sorts) and that made for a very fascinating character and truly fascinating contributions.

Are you going to do another one-man show soon, and do you know who the subject will be?

I am working on a piece about Abraham Lincoln and his last day on Earth. This is a work for solo actor and orchestra ... so call it "one man and a band" perhaps. But I am looking forward to telling this little known story as both an actor and a composer.

Hershey Felder performs "Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein" at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7 in the Martin Theatre at Ravinia, 200 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park. Tickets for both performances are $75 reserved seating, $10 lawn. For tickets call (847) 266-5100 or visit www.ravinia.org.