Kennedy Center Releases Calendar of Upcoming Digital Programming Featuring Renée Fleming & More
By: Chloe Rabinowitz May. 28, 2020
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing arts released its upcoming schedule for digital programming.
Couch Concerts, the Center's free, live digital performance initiative brought to you by Millennium Stage, was created to help inspire, uplift, heal, and bring the performing arts from the homes of artists into homes across the country and around the world during these difficult times. Upcoming concerts feature Artistic Partners The U.S. Army Chorus presenting a Memorial Day themed program and the Washington National Opera (WNO) offering a Visit with Verdi with Leah Crocetto, Quinn Kelsey, and WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello; National Spotlights sharing the artistic stories of Alabama through the Gogue Performing Arts Center and Kentucky through Kentucky Performing Arts; and Community Partners Nkechi Njaka with Tauwoo and Chris Emile with DJFM presenting The Pattern, an immersive movement, guided mindfulness, and sound experience.
As previously announced, Digital Stage releases include a one-week celebration of the birth of President John F. Kennedy. On Friday, the 29th, a highlight of the celebration is a previously unreleased concert from a 1962 fundraiser for the National Cultural Center, which was to become the Kennedy Center. It features President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy, with the President giving his iconic speech about the importance of the arts. Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the originator of the Center, speaks of his inspiration to create an "artistic Mecca"-an American center of culture. Performances by world-class artists of the time include Master of Ceremonies Leonard Bernstein, Marian Anderson, Harry Belafonte, Danny Kaye, Van Cliburn, a seven-year-old Yo-Yo Ma, Andre Previn, and many other luminaries across music, dance, and theater.
The Kennedy Center's first ever Education Artist-in-Residence, Mo Willems, whose 15 episodes of LUNCH DOODLES have had more than ten million views, will air the final episode of Thank You Thursdays!, a new series with Disney Publishing Worldwide, and the premiere of The Yo-Yo Mo Show: An Evening of Musical Doodling with Grammy Award® winner and Kennedy Center Honors recipient Yo-Yo Ma.
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) will stream the entirety of its Portraits of America concert under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and Emmy Award®-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, as well as its continued NSO at Home LIVE! series. Additionally, renowned soprano and arts & health advocate Renée Fleming's series of webinars, Music and the Mind Live with Renée Fleming, continues with guests Miriam Lense, PhD (Vanderbilt University Music Cognition Lab), Sara Beck, PhD (Randolph College), and Deepak Chopra, MD (The Chopra Foundation).
A full schedule of digital programming through June 9 can be found below:
May 28, 2020
12 p.m.-Digital Stage: John F. Kennedy's 1961 Speech to Congress on Space Exploration
1 p.m.-Thank You Thursdays! with Mo Willems. Join Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems in his studio to spin the Thank-O-Rama Wheel and see who we'll thank in this final episode.
3 p.m.-National Symphony Orchestra: Leonard Bernstein's "Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy"
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Celebrating the Past to Awaken the Future (May 29, 2016)
May 29, 2020
12 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Serenade! A Choral Festival: A JFK 100 Celebration from The Millennium Stage (July 3, 2017)
4 p.m.-Couch Concerts: Artistic Partner The U.S. Army Chorus presents We Remember. Join the Army Chorus for a Memorial Day themed program of remembrance, honor, and tribute to those who sacrificed for their country.
6 p.m.-Digital Stage: Archival 1962 Concert: "An American Pageant of the Arts." This previously unreleased concert from a 1962 fundraiser for the National Cultural Center, which was to become the Kennedy Center, includes John F. Kennedy, Leonard Bernstein, Marian Anderson, Harry Belafonte, Danny Kaye, Van Cliburn, a seven-year-old Yo-Yo Ma, Andre Previn, and many other luminaries across music, dance, and theater.
May 30, 2020
10 a.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: #Yoga4All (August 28, 2017)
12 p.m.-Digital Stage: America's Got Talent Finalist David Garibaldi Speed Paints John F. Kennedy
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: The Lucky So & So's (August 18, 2017)
May 31, 2020
10 a.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Furia Flamenca (October 5, 2016)
12 p.m.-Digital Stage: John Ireland's "Epic March" performed by the National Symphony Orchestra
5 p.m.-The Yo-Yo Mo Show: An Evening of Musical Doodling. Learners of all ages are invited to grab some doodling implements and join Mo Willems and Yo-Yo Ma to explore ways in which different art forms can inspire each other.
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Embrace Humanity featuring Omar Offendum, Mana, and Amal Kassir (April 5, 2017)
7 p.m.-NSO at Home LIVE!: Marissa Regni
June 1, 2020
4 p.m.-Couch Concerts: National Spotlight: Alabama. The Gogue Performing Arts Center presents: Music of Alabama with RyNea Soul, The Pine Hill Haints, and Larry Mitchell. The Kennedy Center partners with the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University to focus on artists of Alabama including RyNea Soul, The Pine Hill Haints, and Larry Mitchell. Community partners across the state include Seasick Records of Birmingham, Single Lock Records of Florence/Muscle Shoals, and Standard Deluxe of Waverly.
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Serenade! A Choral Festival: Howard University Gospel Choir & Countermeasure (June 30, 2018)
June 2, 2020
5 p.m.-Music and the Mind Live with Renée Fleming: "At Home With Children: Musical Tool Kit." Renowned soprano and arts & health advocate Renée Fleming's series of webinars continues with guests Miriam Lense, PhD (Vanderbilt University Music Cognition Lab) and Sara Beck, PhD (Randolph College).
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Health, Love, Hustle, and Play with Stic (April 29, 2017)
June 3, 2020
4 p.m.-Couch Concerts: Community Partners: The Pattern. An immersive movement, guided mindfulness, and sound experience featuring Nkechi Njaka with Tauwoo and Chris Emile with DJFM.
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: D.C. Symphony & the Motown Sound (December 29, 2019)
June 4, 2020
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Meena's Dream (February 25, 2016)
June 5, 2020
4 p.m.-Couch Concerts: Artistic Partner Washington National Opera presents Visit with Verdi featuring Leah Crocetto, Quinn Kelsey, and WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. Soprano Leah Crocetto and baritone Quinn Kelsey have graced the greatest operatic stages of the world including The Met, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Kennedy Center's own WNO. They now come to your living room for a live operatic recital and interview with WNO's renowned Artistic Director, Francesca Zambello.
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Bob McDonald (February 15, 2018)
8 p.m.-National Symphony Orchestra: Portraits of America. Maestro Gianandrea Noseda is joined by pianist Jon Kimura Parker, and Emmy Award®-winning actress Phylicia Rashad in a festive, all-American program of beloved musical works by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and others.
June 6, 2020
10 a.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Modern Table (October 22, 2016)
6 p.m. -Millennium Stage Encore: Choir ALIAS (October 30, 2018)
June 7, 2020
10 a.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Company Danzante (February 7, 2018)
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Andre Mehmari (January 13, 2019)
June 8, 2020
4 p.m.-Couch Concerts: National Spotlight: Kentucky. Kentucky Performing Arts presents: Jecorey "1200" Arthur and Cheyenne Miz
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Peabody Conservatory's Now Hear This. Originally presented as a part of DIRECT CURRENT (March 8, 2018)
June 9, 2020
5 p.m.-Music and the Mind Live with Renée Fleming: "Integrative Approach to COVID-19 and the Mind." Renowned soprano and arts & health advocate Renée Fleming's series of webinars continues with guest Deepak Chopra, MD (The Chopra Foundation).
6 p.m.-Millennium Stage Encore: Josh Halverson (August 24, 2018)
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