Performing Arts at the Library of Congress

06/06/2025

We did a thing. Last April, the Concert Office hit the road with the Del Sol Quartet for a mini pop-up performance at the Lincoln Memorial. Check it out!

As part of its 2025 engagement at the Library of Congress, the Del Sol Quartet presents a pop-up concert on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial.For transcrip...

05/17/2025

Special thanks to SSgt. Philip Espe of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band for presenting a musical storytime for today’s Family Day at the Library! We were delighted to share stories, music, and instruments with young visitors and their families. Learn about upcoming events at loc.gov/events?loclr=fbmus

Photo courtesy of SSgt Philip Espe

"The President's Own" United States Marine Band

04/30/2025

The Library of Congress Music Division is pleased to announce the acquisition of the 1690 Tuscan-Medici Viola by Antonio Stradivari. We extend our sincere gratitude to David and Amy Fulton, and the family of Cameron and Jane Baird, for making this momentous occasion possible.

Learn more about this storied instrument.

Press Release: https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/library-of-congress-acquires-1690-stradivari-tuscan-medici-viola/s/76654220-27e4-4377-bd1b-9d6605a14806?loclr=fbmus

Image: Stradivari 1690 Tuscan-Medici Viola, 2025, Library of Congress/Shawn Miller

04/29/2025

The Library of Congress launched its newest “By the People” crowdsourced transcription campaign today: 1,600 items in Silent Film Music Cue Sheets. https://blogs.loc.gov/music/2025/04/by-the-people-transcribing-cue-sheets-for-silent-film/?loclr=fbmus

Cue sheets provided suggestions to film accompanists for live music before the development of the sound film—“talkies”—by the end of the 1920s. This collection includes cue sheets for action, horror, romance, drama, mystery, western, and comedy films ranging from the early 1910s to the late 1920s. Many of these cue sheets have handwritten annotations from the accompanists themselves—who, in a way, put their own compositional spin on the film experience. Help us transcribe these film music treasures!

04/29/2025

Happy 126th birthday to Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, DC. He and his music remain a national treasure. Explore his music through the papers of his collaborator and arranger Billy Strayhorn in the Performing Arts Reading Room.

Duke Ellington directing his band from the piano, April 1943, Gordon Parks, Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information photograph collection, Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017851495/?loclr=fbmus

04/24/2025

Happy 225th birthday to our wonderful institution! We are proud to be part of America’s library 🎉

04/24/2025

Tonight the Library and Washington National Opera commemorated the 90th anniversary of Porgy and Bess with a preview performance by Alyson Cambridge, Reginald Smith Jr, and Marvin Mills. The musical selections were followed by a panel discussion moderated Prof. Angela Powell Walker of Howard University that featured Cambridge, Smith, and Ray White of the Music Division. The Washington National Opera presents a revival of Francesca Zambello’s production of Porgy and Bess May 23-31 at the Kennedy Center.

04/17/2025

Looking for a fun activity? We need your help to make some of our musical theater sheet music collection more discoverable. Draft transcriptions are complete for the whole collection, so we just need your help reviewing those transcriptions through our By the People campaign: Sheet Music of the Musical Theater. https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/musical-theater/?loclr=fbmus

You'll be looking at music titles, names, lyrics, and advertisements from 1880 to 1922. The platform tracks your contributions, in case you need to report service or volunteer hours. WIth the help of 2,702 volunteers, transcriptions have been fully edited and completed for 45,865 pages! We have just over 60,000 pages that still need review.

04/16/2025

The Music Division extends its heartfelt condolences to the Juilliard String Quartet, Juilliard School, and friends, colleagues, and family of cellist Joel Krosnick, who passed away recently at the age of 84. Joel was a longtime friend of the Music Division, performing with the Juilliard String Quartet while the ensemble was in residence with Concerts from the Library of Congress. Watch Joel's final performance at the Library as a member of the Juilliard String Quartet from 2016 in his memory: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021690034/?loclr=fbmus

The preconcert conversation from that event is available here: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021690033/?loclr=fbmus

Photo: Joel Krosnick, courtesy of Juilliard

04/09/2025

Announcing the 2025 National Recording Registry inductees!

Elton John’s monumental album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” Chicago’s debut “Chicago Transit Authority,” the original cast recording of Broadway’s “Hamilton,” Mary J. Blige’s “My Life,” Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” Vicente Fernández's "El Rey," Microsoft’s reboot chime, and the soundtrack to the Minecraft video game phenomenon have been selected as some of the defining sounds of history and culture that will join the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Learn more: https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-sounds-of-elton-john--chicago--broadway-s--hamilton---mary-j.-bl/s/986b2312-27dd-4b66-bd41-3113e0cb2e57?loclr=fbmus

04/08/2025

The “Dead Outlaw” event scheduled for Monday, May 12 has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to see you at a future Library of Congress event.

New event alert! The Library of Congress welcomes Tony Award-winning composer David Yazbek and company members from Broadway’s "Dead Outlaw" to the Coolidge Auditorium for an exclusive performance of selections from the show on Monday, May 12 at 2pm. Tickets available now: https://www.loc.gov/item/event-416459/broadways-dead-outlaw-with-david-yazbek/2025-05-12/?loclr=fbmus

Created by David Yazbek ("The Band's Visit"), Erik Della Penna, and Itamar Moses, "Dead Outlaw" is the darkly hilarious and wildly inventive musical about the bizarre true story of outlaw-turned-corpse-turned-celebrity Elmer McCurdy.

Photo by Matthew Murphy