Published: November 4, 2009
Photo: Luke Sharrett/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Wednesday was classical music day at the White House. The festivities and performances were sponsored by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, created by executive order in 1982. The first lady serves as honorary chairwoman of the committee, and Michelle Obama, fully embracing that function, has created a White House Music Series.
Earlier daylong programs celebrated jazz, country music and Latin music. Classical music had its turn on Wednesday. The celebration ended with a concert in the East Room with President and Mrs. Obama as hosts, and featuring performances by four acclaimed American musicians: the violinist Joshua Bell, the cellist Alisa Weilerstein, the guitarist Sharon Isbin and the pianist Awadagin Pratt.
Mr. Obama opened the concert with welcoming remarks, sketching the history of classical programs in the East Room, which go back 120 years. Not afraid to show himself a bit of a classical music novice, he counseled those who did not know where to applaud not to worry, but added: “I have Michelle to help me. The rest of you are on your own.”
The program was a sampler, ending with the finale of Mendelssohn’s First Piano Trio, but substantive. It included Mr. Pratt’s herculean transcription of Bach’s organ Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor and Ms. Weilerstein’s volatile account of the final movement of Kodaly’s Sonata for Solo Cello.
Complete on > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/arts/music/05concert.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
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