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Only Place To See Historic Stevie Wonder Concert

Posted by: Matt Raymond

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We had a few delays, but we were finally able to post all 55 minutes of the historic Feb. 23 performance by Stevie Wonder at the Library.

VIEW THE WEBCAST HERE

As I previously wrote (prematurely heralding what turned out to be only highlights of the evening), Wonder premiered the piece “Sketches of a Life,” which was commissioned by the Library. It’s worth watching if only to see Stevie Wonder artfully alternating between three different instruments, surrounded by a chamber orchestra of 21 nattily dressed musicians—something you don’t exactly see every day.

Also included are two roof-raising encores: a “Wonder”ful version of “Overjoyed” and a sing-along of “My Cherie Amour.”

Wonder performed at the Library in celebration of his being awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.  A Feb. 25 tribute concert at the White House was broadcast Feb. 26 on PBS.

LOC.gov is the only place where you will be able to view the Feb. 23 concert. (Mad props to Stevie Wonder and to EMI for giving us rights and permissions!)

So what do you think of the piece?

Comments (7)

  1. Rochelle Lesser says:

    That was so incredible, and a blessing that permission was given so that all the world could enjoy this.

    I cannot imagine how anyone will be able to follow Stevie, as his talents are so multifaceted.

  2. vaidb says:

    Amazing piece of work. Glad to see it made it online in its entirety.
    Thanks to the LoC for their honouring of such a great talent.
    Maybe a Stevie Wonder Classical album would be the icing on the top of such an illustrious career!

  3. Milestill says:

    Thanks to all at the Library of Congress for their kind attention to making this very interesting project available to the public. Bravo!

  4. Jay Wells says:

    Please post the concert in a format other than Real Media.

  5. Katy says:

    I absolutely love Stevie Wonder. Lovin the Library of Congress for doing this!
    kind regards
    Katy

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