ARTS FIRST, created by John Lithgow '67, sponsored by the Harvard Board
of Overseers and produced by the Office for the Arts at Harvard, is an
annual arts festival at Harvard presenting more than two hundred music,
theater, dance, and visual arts events over the course of a single weekend. The festival celebrates all kinds of creative
activity at venues large and small, indoors and out, including Harvard Yard, Sanders
Theater, the Harvard Museums, and the undergraduate houses.
The Harvard Arts Medal was established in 1995 by the Board of
Overseers to recognize excellence in the arts. The medal honors a
Harvard or Radcliffe alumnus/a or faculty member who has achieved
distinction in the arts and who has made a special contribution to the
good of the arts, to the public good in relation to the arts, or to
education, broadly defined. The medal is awarded annually at ARTS
FIRST. This program shows the 2004 Harvard Arts Medal celebration
honoring cellist Yo-Yo Ma '76, which was held in Sanders Theatre on May
9, presented by the Office for the Arts and the Board of Overseers.
John Lithgow is the host and moderator of this event. He introduces and
converses with Yo-Yo Ma in Sanders Theater, expressing his deep appreciation for this
world-renowned and gracious musician. The program includes a performance of the first
movement of Schubert's Trout Quintet by student musicians, a conversation between Mr.
Lithgow and Mr. Ma, a question and answer session with the audience, a breathtaking
performance of Bach's First Suite for Solo Cello by Yo-Yo Ma, and the award ceremony,
presented by Harvard President Lawrence Summers.
