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Portrait photo of composer Brigitta Muntendorf seated on stool

New Music Weekend at the Library of Congress

Posted by: David Plylar

As our 100th season enters its last few weeks, we are excited to invite you to a new music weekend, with an enticing pair of concerts featuring new and recently composed music. First, on Friday, May 30 at 8 p.m., loadbang will join us for a concert that will feature three Library of Congress commissions. …

Sheet music cover for "On Patrol in No Man's Land" features a black and white photograph of James Reese Europe posing with his Hellfighters band in military uniform, with an additional portrait of James Reese Europe featured below the ensemble.

New Research Guide: James Reese Europe Resources at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Cait Miller

The Music Division’s newest research guide, James Reese Europe: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress, provides a gateway to accessing historic sheet music, unique literary manuscripts, newspaper archives, recordings, photographs and scholarly research by and related to leading cultural figure James Reese Europe (1881-1919).

Image of Stradivari viola laying on velvet cloth on a table

A Second Stradivari Viola Finds a Home at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres

The Library of Congress Music Division announces in the acquisition of the 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola made by Antonio Stradivari. Now rechristened Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1690, viola, Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici, the acquisition was made possible through an extraordinary gift to the nation from David and Amy Fulton and the Baird family’s Tuscan Corporation. Learn about this historic addition to the Library's instrument collection.

Image of actors onstage for Porgy and Bess.

Catfish Row Comes to New York: The Genesis of “Porgy and Bess”

Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres

Curator of the George and Ira Gershwin Collection Ray White discusses the origins of the Gershwins' "Porgy and Bess" in commemoration of the work's 90th anniversary. The Library and Washington National Opera present a concert and panel discussion to celebrate the anniversary on Wednesday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium.

View from the Coolidge Auditorium stage looking out at the seats with a Steinway 9-foot piano on stage.

Now Streaming: Leslie Odom Jr., Lectures, and Artist Conversations

Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres

Enjoy recently released event videos from the 2024-2025 season of Concerts from the Library of Congress. Highlights include a conversation with Tony Award-winner Leslie Odom Jr., lectures by Christoph Wolff and Harvey Sachs, Renée Fleming's appearance at the 2024 National Book Festival, AMS lectures, Henry Mancini at 100 events, and numerous pre-concert conversations with artists.

Photo of Scala in 1903 at his home. Seated outdoors.

A Note from President Lincoln

Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres

University of Kentucky MLS candidate Jay Stringer-Vaught discusses a unique item in the Music Division’s collections written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 to Francis Maria Scala, then-leader of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. Also learn about several past appearances by "The President's Own" on the Concerts from the Library of Congress series, which celebrates 100 years in 2025.