Civic Culture Raises Its Beautiful Head Above The Frozen Snow And Ice Of The Nation's Capital

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts has commissioned a work from American composer Peter Lieberson to be based on various Kennedy speeches. It will be performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, under Christoph Eschenbach, in January of 2011 -- the 50th Anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

(The week before that major world premiere, the National Symphony Orchestra, led by European conductor Kirill Karabits, will perform European composer Valentin Silvestrov's 'Elegy for Strings.')