Bernstein met JFK in the 1950s and regularly attended events at the Kennedy White House. Frank Sinatra was asked to produce a gala on the eve of the Inauguration on January 19, 1961, at the National Guard Armory, Washington, D.C. Selected to conduct the seventy-piece band, Bernstein began the gala with his newly composed Fanfare. Despite a terrible blizzard and a delayed start, the star-studded line-up, including Ethel Merman, Nat "King" Cole, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald and many others, managed to entertain to the delight of the President and First Lady-elect.
Source:
https://leonardbernstein.com/works/view/254/fanfare-for-the-inauguration-of-john-f-kennedy
Part of "Portraits of America," performed LIVE in the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall, January 22, 2017.
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