Kennedy Center Honors - 2018

On December 2, 2018, the Kennedy Center will host its 41st annual national celebration of the arts.  Artists include, Cher, Philip Glass, Reba McEntire, Wayne Shorter. Also the creators of Hamilton - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler, and Alex Lacamoire, will be presented with a special Kennedy Center Honors as trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.  The Honors Gala will be broadcasted on CBS Network on Wednesday, December 26 at 8 p.m. ET.

Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian, May 20, 1946 in El Centro, California. (Singer, actress, author, businesswoman, comedian, dancer, fashion designer, model, philanthropist, record producer,
songwriter, television host) (Genres - Pop, dance, disco, folk, rock)
She has been awarded an Academy Award for "Moonstruck", a Grammy for "Believe", an Emmy, three Golden Globes, a Cannes Film Festival Award and a People's Choice Award.
In 1965, Cher, along with her husband Sonny, gained popularity.  Her first solo in 1966, "Band Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", was her first million-seller song.  She is currently starring in the current movie "Mamma Mia2 - Here We go Again".

Philip Glass was born on January 31, 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Composer) (Genres - Minimalism, contemporary classical, film score)  Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Julliard School.  In 1974 he wrote Music in Twelve Parts and his opera Einstein on the Beach.  He has receive an Academy Award nomination for Kundun, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal and a Golden Globe for The Truman Show.  He was presented with the U.S. National Medal of the Arts by Barack Obama in 2015.  He also was named the 11th recipient of the Glenn Gould Prize, a lifetime achievement award.
His Symphony No. 11 was premiered on his 80th birthday on January 31, 2017.  The Los Angeles Philharmonic will present the word premiere of glass' Symphony No 12, based on David Bowie's album Lodger, on January 10, 2019.

Reba McEntire was born on March 28, 1955 in McAlester, Oklahoma. (Singer, songwriter, actress, record producer( (Genre - Country)
Reba began her music career singing in the Kowa High School Band.  Her first solo album was release in 1977 plus an additional five albums.  She has released 29 studio albums, 42 number one singles, 16 number one albums, and 28 albums are gold, platinum or multi-platinum sales.  She is referred to as "The Queen of Country".  She has sold more than 95 million record worldwide.
McEntire also starred in  the film Tremors and in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun, TV sitcom Reba, which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series-Musical or Comedy.

Wayne Shorter was born on August 25, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey. (Musician, composer) (Genres - Modal jazz, crossover jazz, post-bop, hard bop, jazz fusion, third stream)
In the late 1950s Shorter became a member, saxophone, composer and music director of Art Blakey's Jazz Messenger. In the 1960s he joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet and late cofounded the jazz fusion band Weather Report.  He has won 10 Grammy Awards, NEA Jazz Masters Award (1998), the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2015), and the Polar Music Prize (2017).

Lin-Manuel Miranda was born January 16, 1980 and is known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton.  He has won a Pulitzer Prize, three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and three Tony Awards.

Thomas Kail was born on January 20, 1978 in Alexandria, Virginia and is an American film and theatre director, known for directing In the Heights and Hamilton.  He received the Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.

Andy Blankenbuehler was born on March 7, 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  he is an American dancer, choreogrpaher and director.  He has been nominated 5 times for the Tony Award for Best Choreography and has won 3 times for Bandstand, Hamilton, and In the Heights.  He has also choreographed 9 to 5, Bring it On: The Music, and the 2016 Cats revival.

Alex Lacamoire was born on May 24, 1975 in Los Angeles, California.  He is of Cuban descent and is a composer, conductor, musical director, music copyist, and orchestrator.  He has won many Tony and Grammy Awards, including In the Heights, Hamilton, and Dear Evan Hansen.