US Politics
After a composer pulled out of Kennedy Center amid Trump’s rebranding, De Niro to appear at Carnegie Hall
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Robert De Niro is set to appear at Carnegie Hall this week, where he will recite excerpts from a Philip Glass opera centered on Abraham Lincoln.
This performance comes after the renowned composer canceled the opera’s intended premiere at the Kennedy Center in protest of President Donald Trump’s removal of the center’s leadership.
Glass’s Symphony No. 25, titled “Lincoln,” will be featured during a benefit event on Tuesday night for Tibet House US, a nonprofit educational institution.
The organization confirmed De Niro’s participation, noting his prominent criticism of President Trump. Glass himself, alongside Laurie Anderson, will serve as artistic directors for the evening.
The opera draws inspiration from one of Lincoln’s early significant addresses, the 1838 “Lyceum Address,” in which the future president condemned mob violence and highlighted its threats to democratic principles.
“I am so pleased Robert De Niro is going to read the Lincoln speech,” Glass stated. “He is absolutely the right person.” De Niro joins a growing list of artists, including Renée Fleming, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Bela Fleck, who have canceled events at the Kennedy Center.
President Trump has controversially renamed the venue the “Trump Kennedy Center,” a move legal scholars assert can only be enacted by Congress.
The president, who has positioned the center as a focal point in his campaign against “woke” culture, announced last month that the facility would close in July for a two-year construction project.