[Scott Joplin, Black Heritage USA]
At the Kennedy Center, Pianist Tzimon Barto gave a distinctive interpretation of a Ragtime work of Scott Joplin (1868-1917), who is profiled at AfriClassical.com:
Washington Times
Monday, January 24, 2011 – Curtain Up! by Terry Ponick
“WASHINGTON – Upon entering the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall Saturday evening, National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) patrons noticed a large movie screen lowered over the vacant chorister seats at stage rear. The message it carried was a familiar one: turn off those cell phones, iPhones, and Blackberrys. But the reason for the added emphasis was a good one: Saturday’s concert was being recorded live. It’s slated to become part of a new NSO CD to be released this spring—the orchestra’s first after ten years in the recording wilderness.
”Saturday’s concert—an unusual opening night for regular season concertgoers—was part of the Kennedy Center’s celebration this month of the president who, posthumously alas, gave the Center its name. Why this weekend? It’s the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration and a fitting moment to pause and celebrate his memory.”
“After the concerto’s dramatic, concluding trills, the audience erupted once again in an enthusiastic, appreciative ovation. Mr. Barto obliged by offering as a solo encore an unusually accented version of a Scott Joplin rag—a symbolically and musically fitting conclusion to this rousing, all-American memorial to the president who put America’s performing arts back into the country’s consciousness some fifty years ago.”
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