Don't you just bet Hillary is havin' a defecation hemorrhage about now? There's nothing that trailer-trash carpet bagger hates more than being upstaged... Especially when it's unintentional.
Too bad....
Posted on 06/11/2005 5:50:27 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
WASHINGTON — A musician long before she became an academic and then a world-famous diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took to the Kennedy Center concert stage Saturday to accompany a young soprano battling an often-fatal disease.
Rice's rare and unpublicized appearance at the piano marked a striking departure from her routine as America's No. 1 diplomat. A pianist from the age of 3 she played a half-dozen selections to accompany Charity Sunshine, a 21-year-old singer who was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension a little more than a year ago.
The soprano is a granddaughter of Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., and his wife Annette, who Rice has known for years. The Pulmonary Hypertension Association, formed in 1990, presented the concert to draw attention to the disease from which more than 100,000 people are known to suffer.
Largely unknown in the United States until about 10 years ago, it has no known cause or cure, but genetic studies and a search for treatment are under way.
Sunshine has persisted in her career and performed with orchestras in Hungary, her grandparents' home before the Holocaust, Denmark and the United States. On Saturday, in a concert entitled, "An Evening of Music, Friendship and Awareness" and hosted by Lantos, she drew the secretary of state to play selections by Verdi, Mozart and Jerome Kern.
Eileen Cornett, of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md., accompanied Sunshine on a half-dozen other pieces.
Rice, whose first name is a variation on the Italian musical term "con dolcezza," which is a direction to play with sweetness, learned to read music at the age of 3.
As a child she performed, won piano competitions and planned a career as a a concert pianist. But she switched her field of interest to international relations in her junior year at the University of Colorado and went on to be provost at Stanford University, then President Bush's assistant for national security, and now secretary of state.
Despite her busy schedule, Rice finds time to enjoy classical music and plays occasionally and privately with friends in a string quartet.
In February, on a trip to Europe, she visited a Parisian music school, Conservatoire Hector Berlioz, after a session with French political elite.
Rice tapped her toes to keep time as a music teacher led a group of students age 7 to 9 through their scales. She told the youngsters, "It takes a lot of work to learn to read music. You have to practice and practice and practice."
Awesome. Would love to hear her play.
What a great post.
This woman is amazing!
Me too. I'm guessing the first family has been treated to a private recital or two.
Bet Hillary can't do that!
Man, I so Love Her,Such a Class Act!
Hillary is busy doing fundraising for other types of things.....like herself.
She gave a concert with Yo Yo Ma (violinist).
Any relation to Yo Yo Ma the Cellist?
Dr. Rice is nothing but class personified. I very much hope that I get a chance to vote for her. "President Rice" has a nice ring to it.
Charity Sunshine?
just asking.
Don't you just bet Hillary is havin' a defecation hemorrhage about now? There's nothing that trailer-trash carpet bagger hates more than being upstaged... Especially when it's unintentional.
Too bad....
Isn't that the truth. Hillary is just too crass.
Wonder if it is a stage name or the real thing. Oh well, I suppose her folks could have named her Heavenly, Urmy, or Liquid.
Kind of a nice change after Warren Christopher and Madeline Allbright, isn't it?
The difference between Republicans and Democrats. Lantos is from one of the most liberal House districts in the country. Secretary Rice is happy to help out.
Maybe she and the Pope will play a duet one day.
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