Inauguration Tuesday

It’s wonderful that at another momentous and historic occasion, the arts and music have played a critical role. From the Marine Band, Aretha Franklin, Elizabeth Alexander’s Poem, the chamber work by John Williams, to the dozens of marching bands who participated in the Inaugural Parade, the Art’s pressence was only matched by President Obama himself.

• Music and the Inauguration
  • Air and Simple Gifts by John Williams [Hulu] UPDATE Worried about the cold, it turns out that the quartet played along with a recording [BBC News]
  • Inauguration Resources from the United States Marine Band [US Marine Band]
  • Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker, gives his take on the Inaugural Music [The Rest is Noise]
• Obama and the Arts
  • Short Clip of Obama reciting Copland’s Lincoln Portrat with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2005 [YouTube]
  • Let’s Treasure the Old Along with the New [CNN]
  • Obama and the Arts – “Homeowners, banks, Detroit—everyone wants a bailout. But President Obama will need to invest serious money, and time, boosting the arts, too.” [Newsweek]
  • Obama’s Call to Arts [Christian Science Monitor]
  • Artists Urge Obama to Name a Secretary of Culture [Washington Post]