Tania León Among This Year’s Kennedy Center Honors Recipients

Tania León has earned a prestigious honor…

The 79-year-old Cuban composer, conductor and educator will be among this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients.

Tania LeónLeon is part of a roster of honorees that includes U2, Gladys Knight, Amy Grant and George Clooney.

The Honors recipients are recognized for their contributions to American culture through the performing arts—whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television—and are confirmed by the executive committee of the Center’s board of trustees.

 

Deborah F. Rutter, Kennedy Center president, noted: “For nearly a half-century, the Kennedy Center Honors has represented the very best of America’s creative culture. The Honors is often referred to by past recipients as the pinnacle of awards because it recognizes not just one performance, album, or film, but esteems an artist’s cumulative body of work and influence over many decades…”

León received a 2012 Grammy nomination for best contemporary classical composition for Inura for Voices, Strings and Percussion. She is also renowned as a conductor, educator and advisor to arts organizations

León was a founding member and the first musical director of Arthur Mitchell‘s Dance Theater of Harlem, establishing its music department, music school, and orchestra.

She won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Stride.

The 45th Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a dinner in the Grand Foyer.

“Little did I imagine when studying in La Habana that life was going to grace me with such a distinction! My first thoughts went to my ancestors: they believed in my dreams, and what we lacked in material wealth, they made up for in spirit, encouragement, and support,” says Leon of the honor. “My heartfelt thanks go to the many people who have blessed my path by helping my talent to blossom and by giving me the chance to be heard. I am incredibly humbled to join such a prestigious family of artists, and deeply grateful to the Kennedy Center for bestowing me with this incredible honor.”

The 45th annual Kennedy Center Honors will air on Wednesday, December 28 (8:00 – 10:00 pm ET/PT) on CBS. Paramount+ Premium subscribers will have access to stream live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service as well as on demand. Essential-tier subscribers will have access to on-demand the day after the special airs.

The special show will be taped on Sunday, December 4 in Washington, D.C.  Presented for lifetime artistic achievements, the program will be held on Sunday, December 4, on the Opera House stage at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Aguilera to Have “A Very Special Christmas”…

It may be August, but Christina Aguilera is already getting into the holiday spirit…

The 31-year-old half-Ecuadorian American singer and The Voice coach will be lending her voice to a holiday themed song that will appear on a special 25th anniversary “A Very Special Christmas” album series aimed at raising money for the Special Olympics.

Christina Aguilera

Two albums will be released October 16 to celebrate Special Olympics partnership, which has raised more than $100 million for the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

A Very Special Christmas 25th Anniversary” will be released on Big Machine Records and Word Records will issue “A Very Special Christmas: Bringing Peace on Earth.”

The albums have become the largest single source of funding for the Special Olympics and its athletes, according to Special Olympics Chairman and CEO Tim Shriver.

“This 25th anniversary will be the biggest year in the history of this series,” he said. “This is music that continues to sell. People buy it. They enjoy it. They think it’s just great Christmas music, but it’s more than that. It’s changing the world.”

No word yet on which song Aguilera—who released her own holiday themed album, My Kind of Christmas, in 2000—will sing on the album.

Other artists involved in the project include Michael Buble, Train, Jason Mraz, Amy Grant, Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry.