Pittsburgh Summit Blog: The Arts Connect Us

The Pittsburgh Summit 2009

The Arts Connect Us

By Summit Bloggers | Friday, September 25, 2009 | 01:41 PM EST | 1 comments

Today, First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated some of America's most gifted performers -- and some of the hottest up-and-coming young talents in our nation, too. The First Lady hosted spouses of world leaders attending the G-20 Pittsburgh Summit for a performance at Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) High School.

One of the country's greatest composers, Marvin Hamlisch, worked with the students to put on the show, and Carnegie Mellon University professor Gregory Lehane directed today's performances. Sara Bareilles, Yo-Yo Ma and Trisha Yearwood also participated in the event.

Before the performance, the First Lady said, "We believe strongly that the arts aren't somehow an 'extra' part of our national life, but instead we feel that the arts are at the heart of our national life. It is through our music, our literature, our art, drama and dance that we tell the story of our past and we express our hopes for the future. Our artists challenge our assumptions in ways that many cannot and do not. They expand our understandings, and push us to view our world in new and very unexpected ways.

"And most of all, the arts have the power to connect us to each other throughout nations. It's something that we tend to share with one another as spouses. When we go to other countries, there's a common theme -- that we share our music, we share our dance, we share our culture -- because it reminds us that our world here in America is not so distant from other cultures and worlds around the globe.

"It's what happens when a country music star like Trisha Yearwood performs in Italy, and students here at CAPA study Italian Renaissance art. Or when Sara Bareilles draws inspiration from an Icelandic singer named Bjork or a Jamaican singer named Bob Marley. Or when Yo-Yo Ma, born in Paris to Chinese parents, promotes the music of Kazakhstan and Brazil, and Israel, and Egypt and more -- and goes on to become one of the most beloved American artists of all time.

"It's through this constant exchange -- this process of taking and giving, this process of borrowing and creating -- that we learn from each other and we inspire each other. It is a form of diplomacy in which we can all take part. I think Yo-Yo Ma put it best when he said, 'When you learn something from people or from a culture, you accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve that gift and to build on that gift.'

"And that is what we're doing here today. We're presenting the gifts of these wonderful American artists to our friends from all around the world. And these artists are passing on the gift of their magnificent example to these young people who are here today, studying in this school -- showing them that if they dream big enough, and work hard enough, and believe in themselves, that they can do and achieve some uncommon things in their lifetime."

Read the First Lady's full remarks here.

Updated: The White House Blog provides more photos of the CAPA High School performance and the First Lady in Pittsburgh.