In Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress, Jennifer Koh and Thomas Sauer perform the world premiere of Tania León's Para Violin y Piano, commissioned by the Library's Leonora Jackson McKim Fund. Photo source: Library of Congress.
In Saturday’s (10/25) NPR, Tom Huizenga writes, “For 100 years, performers of all stripes have graced the Library [of Congress’] Coolidge Auditorium stage, from classical music luminaries like Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky to Stevie Wonder, Audra McDonald and Max Roach. Today, it remains one of the capitol city’s most beautiful, best sounding and perhaps best-kept secrets. The idea for a concert hall at the Library of Congress did not stem from congress. It came from philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge—and one bespoke piece of bipartisan legislation…. To mark the centennial, celebratory concerts and commissions have been heard in the hall all year…. [It’s] a living, breathing concert hall that serves as a cultural beacon—preserving history and cultivating new music through commissions. Perhaps the most famous commission became one of America’s most iconic pieces of music. Aaron Copland’s ballet Appalachian Spring, written for dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, received its world premiere at Coolidge Auditorium on Oct. 30, 1944…. The commissions keep coming, thanks in part to generous women who followed in Coolidge’s philanthropic footsteps. Composers commissioned for the 100th anniversary include MacArthur fellows Tyshawn Sorey and Vijay Iyer, plus Pulitzer winner Raven Chacon, George Benjamin and the electronic artist Jlin.”
