{"id":14864,"date":"2024-10-01T13:09:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/?p=14864"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:09:51","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:09:51","slug":"mayor-boston-performs-rhapsody-blue-boston-pops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/2024\/10\/01\/mayor-boston-performs-rhapsody-blue-boston-pops\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor of Boston Performs Rhapsody in Blue with the Boston Pops"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-14865\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/10\/Michelle-Wu-boston.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1199\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/10\/Michelle-Wu-boston.jpg 512w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/10\/Michelle-Wu-boston-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Elected in 2021, Michelle Wu is the first woman and person of colour to serve as mayor of Boston. On September 21st, she performed as piano soloist with the city\u2019s legendary Boston Pops.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s happening:<\/strong> On September 21st, the Hon. Michelle Wu, Mayor of Boston, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/omxAby8anJ0?si=V3M-KZc18fu-VQB8\">performed the piano solo in Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue<\/a> with the Boston Pops as part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bso.org\/events\/2024-concert-for-the-city\">Concert for the City<\/a>. It was Mayor Wu\u2019s second time performing at the annual free orchestral concert. In 2023, she performed the second movement of Mozart\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 21. Her Gershwin performance was conducted by BSO conductor Keith Lockhart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some context:<\/strong> While in recent years, enthusiasm for classical music has become unusual amongst politicians, Wu\u2019s proclivity is not without precedent. Sir Edward Heath, Prime Minister of England from 1970-1974, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/44wdzDVnPr0?si=HvXCBj7hMGkKM2g-\">frequently guest conducted the London Symphony Orchestra<\/a> and once performed Mozart\u2019s Concerto for Two Pianos with German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/omxAby8anJ0?si=TY1f3OA6YzNxVxVg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the mood for more? Catch former US President Harry Truman playing <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xIKOVziQMDQ?si=ci3WpVEKzd-HAxN7\">a bit of Mozart<\/a> and Richard Nixon playing <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/MCsGSMze_6Q?si=EWvVfIiG33pFLLEg\">his own piano concerto<\/a>, as well as former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1Q0tDKtYojI?si=35PwdzTe0SBWJHGf\">playing the Beethoven<\/a> Spring Sonata arranged for two pianos (quite skillfully, we might add). And let\u2019s not forget who invented the glass harmonica that features prominently in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uZPKVRgOfWE\">Lucia di Lammermoor\u2019s mad scene<\/a> &#8211; none other than Benjamin Franklin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elected in 2021, Michelle Wu is the first woman and person of colour to serve as mayor of Boston. On September 21st, she performed as piano soloist with the city\u2019s legendary Boston Pops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":14865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[360,3,255],"tags":[21,467],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/10\/Michelle-Wu-boston.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14866,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14864\/revisions\/14866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14864"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=14864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}