The fourth in a series of music events hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama will focus on classical music and takes place today in the East Wing of the White House. The event features student workshops and a concert and is being streamed live on the internet. During the afternoon, 120 middle- and high-school students from the Sphinx Preparatory Music Institute at Wayne State University will participate in workshop sessions with Sphinx Competition Alumni and Sphinx Performance Academy students. Performers in the evening concert will include violinist Joshua Bell, guitarist Sharon Isbin, pianist Awadagin Pratt, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Weilerstein will also perform duets with two young musicians: cellist Sujari Britt and marimba player Jason Yoder. The White House Music Series was created by Mrs. Obama to celebrate the arts, demonstrate the importance of arts education, and to encourage young people to create a future for themselves in the arts. Previous White House events in the series spotlighted jazz, country, and Latin music. Live streamed broadcasts of the workshop (2:15 p.m. ET) and concert (7:15 p.m. ET) can be viewed at whitehouse.gov.
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Posted November 4, 2009
