Weekend Video

In this week of all things Indiana Jones, I’m featuring a 2006 clip from when its director Steven Spielberg was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor.

The awards, now in their 31st year, are broadcast every Christmas, and for anyone who hasn’t seen them I would highly recommend them. The premise is simple. Five individuals in the arts are selected each year based on a lifetime of contributions to American culture through the performing arts. Each honoree is introduced by a colleague, followed a short but always fascinating filmed biography. The tribute is then capped off by some sort of surprise performance.

In Spielberg’s case the performance was of the finale from Leonard Bernstein's Candide, “Make Our Garden Grow”, sung by Gregory Turay and Harolyn Blackwell. Other than being conducted by Spielberg’s longtime composer John Williams, I’m not sure exactly what the connection was but the piece was so powerfully sung I promptly downloaded three different versions!