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Classical music has its day at White House as prodigies share East Room stage with superstars
By Nancy Benac, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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| First lady Michelle Obama, who is the honorary chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), speaks about the importance of arts and humanities education before giving out the Coming Up Taller Award, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Charles Dharapak) |
WASHINGTON - With two concerts and a series of workshops for young musicians, the White House put a big spotlight on classical music Wednesday and sent a strong message that it is not just for stuffed shirts.
The president told the audience at an evening concert in the East Room that classical music is "lifting hearts and spurring imaginations" all across the nation and is to be enjoyed by aficionados and the uninitiated alike.
The concert featured some of today’s most important young and vibrant classical musicians: violist Joshua Bell, classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Awadagin Pratt. And at an afternoon performance for the young musicians, the superstars teamed up with some youngsters of uncanny ability.
Pratt plunked himself down on a piano bench next to 14-year-old Lucy Hattemer of Cincinnati, Ohio, to perform a Franz Schubert duet on the East Room’s Steinway. Weilerstein, 27, was upstaged by her 8-year-old partner, Sujari Britt, a student at New York’s Manhattan School of Music, when they performed a duet by Italian composer Luigi Boccherini.
Bell, performing in shirt sleeves and jeans, introduced a Niccolo Paganini duet with Isbin by telling the audience that the Italian violinist was "sort of like the Beatles of his time." He also showed that not even the professionals are immune to the occasional flub. During his duet with Isbin, Bell inadvertently skipped a couple of lines, and jokingly pronounced it "the abridged version."
At the evening concert, Obama tried to put the audience at ease by telling the crowd that even President Kennedy was not always sure when to clap during classical performances and had to get a signal from his social secretary when to applaud.
"Fortunately, I have Michelle to tell me when to applaud," he joked. "The rest of you are on your own."
At the afternoon performance, Mrs. Obama praised the youngsters for practicing even when they do not feel like it, lugging around heavy instruments and labouring to perfect tough pieces.
"It’s through that struggle that you find what you truly have to offer to your instrument or to anything in life," she said. "You’ll learn that if you believe in yourself and put in your best effort, that there’s nothing that you can’t achieve. And those aren’t just lessons about music. These are really lessons about life."
After the first concert, 16-year-old percussionist Jason Yoder pronounced it "a very good day for classical music." A student at Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts School, he performed a duet of Camille Saint-Saens’ "The Swan" with Isbin.
"In my generation, classical music is kind of looked down upon," Yoder said, adding that the White House spotlight could help change that.
The day’s events were part of a White House Music Series that also has featured jazz, Latin and country music.
Also Wednesday, Mrs. Obama showcased after-school programs in the arts and humanities by hosting an awards ceremony for more than a dozen recipients of the Coming Up Taller awards. The awards recognize programs outside the schools that encourage young people to express themselves through the arts.
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