Feb 18th, 2010 · Dozens of conservative luminaries are rallying their troops at the Conservative Political Action Conference, setting their agenda and dishing out criticism at the GOP. It's not that the two sides are splitting up. It's more like they're having an ugly spat.
Sep 17th, 2009 · Alan Gilbert is the first native-born New Yorker to hold the post, and he follows such luminaries as Gustav Mahler and Leonard Bernstein. But the shoes he's stepping into are already comfortable: He literally grew up with the Philharmonic. Gilbert's parents played in the violin section, and his mom still does.
Jun 12th, 2009 · Italian import Daniela Schaechter is a brilliant young pianist and singer, taking the jazz scene by storm. Judging by her list of awards and the number of jazz luminaries she's played with, one might think she'd been gigging professionally for dozens of years. Schaechter performs her own tune "Dark Blue," and McPartland joins in for "It Could Happen to You."
May 10th, 2009 · If you were on The Ed Sullivan Show, you had arrived. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Van Cliburn, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby — a legendary list of luminaries spanned an incredible range of pop culture, from puppets, dancing bears and spinning plates to Broadway, opera, classical music, and ballet. Even newsmakers like Cuba's Fidel Castro showed up as guests on the show, which ran from 1948 to 1971. Bernie Ilson was Ed Sullivan's press representative in the 1960s, and host Liane Hansen speaks with him about his new book, Sundays with Sullivan: How the Ed Sullivan Show Brought Elvis, the Beatles, and Culture to America.
Apr 3rd, 2009 · Sung is a dazzling and passionate player with a flawless technique and an exquisite touch. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance graduate has played with such luminaries as Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis. She shows off her compositional skills when she plays her own tune ("Hope Springs Eternally"), and she joins host Marian McPartland on "Someday My Prince Will Come."
Aug 24th, 2008 · During 40 years as fiction editor of the New Yorker magazine, William Maxwell worked with luminaries like Vladimir Nabokov and John Cheever. His own writings were often overshadowed by his job — but now they've been reissued by the Library of America to mark the centennial of his birth. NPR's Jacki Lyden finds out more about the man and his words.
Aug 12th, 2008 · Among the political luminaries attending the Beijing Olympics are Henry Kissinger and former President George H.W. Bush. Kissinger was a national security adviser for Richard Nixon who opened up U.S. relations with Communist China in the 1970s. Bush served as the senior U.S. diplomat in Beijing in the early days of U.S.-China relations.
Dec 24th, 2007 · Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, who grew up in Montreal and called Canada home for his whole life, has died at the age of 82. He led the Oscar Peterson Trio for much of the 1950s and collaborated with jazz luminaries Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Milt Jackson and others.