American actor Wendell Pierce’s voice boomed through the Amphitheater, deep and clear: “O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention,” he quoted from the prologue to Shakespeare’s Henry V.
At 18 years old, Cécile McLorin Salvant performed on a stage in a small French club for the first time. She closed her eyes as she sang beside her music teacher from the Darius Milhaud
Bebop pioneer and American Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie said something to Wynton Marsalis that changed his view on big bands forever: “One should not consider it an achievement to lose one’s orchestral tradition.” Since jazz
At age 9, Geoffrey C. Ward fell ill with polio. In 1949, doctors thought it was best for young children not to know about their illness because knowing might frighten them. Parents’ visits were limited
Since America’s founding in 1776, the arts have been representative of American culture. The tempo of music runs through the United States, connecting it in a way nothing else can, Wynton Marsalis said. A nation
At 6 years old, Wynton Marsalis already had a trumpet in his hands. Growing up in New Orleans in the 1960s, music surrounded Marsalis both in his community and within his family. His father Ellis
On Jan. 13, 2008, Bryan Doerries saw Sophocles’ Ajax within the pages of The New York Times. The article told the story of an Iraq combat veteran who was plagued by nightmares and didn’t feel
Army combat veteran Wes Moore and retired four-star Gen. David H. Petraeus assumed plank position on the Amphitheater stage. Side-by-side, they squared up their shoulders and began to do pushups as the audience counted.
When soldiers return back to their lives after serving overseas, they do not receive a handbook or set of guidelines to follow that teaches them how to go back to civilian life. No one
Once when Kayla Williams walked her dog in the park near her home, a man asked her if her three-legged German shepherd lost his leg from an improvised explosive device, or IED. She replied
Eighty years and one day earlier, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood on the Amphitheater stage and declared, “I hate war.” Roosevelt said he had seen war. He had seen the blood of the injured
Michael Sandel believes difficult questions about politics, morality and inequality need to be valued. Politicians should spend more time listening and reasoning with citizens than participating in “shouting matches” on television and radio. Sandel, the
Janet Mock came out as a transgender woman in May 2011 by sharing her story in a Marie Claire article. She wrote about her transition to womanhood during her teenage years and how it felt
Nobel Prize-winning cell biologist Randy Schekman first became interested in microbiology as a child when he looked at pond scum underneath a toy microscope. “I couldn’t believe what was revealed to my eyes,” Schekman said.
In the early 1990s, the link between the economy and job creation began to deteriorate. Typically, after a recession, an improving economy resulted in more jobs six months later. However, in the early 1990s, it
From last Friday to Aug. 21, people around the globe will watch as the world’s best athletes compete for the gold. Those athletes are seen as extraordinary and strong as they engage in exerting physical