“Singer, actress and filmmaker Barbra Streisand and Itzhak Perlman, one of this era’s most honored classical musicians, are arts figures who will receive American’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in a Nov. 24 ceremony at the White House,” reports Mike Boehm in Sunday’s (11/16) Los Angeles Times. Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim was cited for the award last year but was unable to attend the ceremony, and will receive his medal next week. “President Barack Obama said in the written announcement that his picks are ‘men and women who have enriched our lives and helped define our shared experience as Americans.’ … Perlman’s medal citation begins by noting that he is ‘a treasured conductor and sought-after teacher,’ before going on to note his achievements as a classical violinist and his role as ‘an important voice on behalf of persons with disabilities.’ Like Streisand and Sondheim, Perlman already has won the nation’s highest arts award, the National Medal of Arts … in 2000.” Other 2015 arts medalists are filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the pop music team of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and singer-songwriter James Taylor, with others chosen from politics, space science, sports, and civil rights.
Posted November 19, 2015
