Music Of The Millennium

Wander into Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the early evening and you'll find the place abuzz with the sounds of the Millennium Stage, a series of performances from all over the world.

Center stage is the Grand Foyer where hundreds of people gather for a free performance at 6 p.m. every evening of the week.

Created as part of the Kennedy Center's "Performing Arts for Everyone" initiative, the Millennium Stage makes live performances of every kind available to the widest possible audience.

Visitors to the center have seen performances from America's top classical, jazz, folk and blues musicians as well as dance and music troupes celebrating the arts of Israel, Korea, the Philippines and Spain, among others.

And during the summer we should call it the Millennium Stages because there also are performances on Capitol Hill at noon every Tuesday and Thursday through Labor Day.

In late June alone, the schedule includes Bruce Molsky performing Appalachian songs on fiddle, guitar, and banjo (on June 20); Origem's Brazilian jazz (on June 25); and Robert Kapilow conducting the National Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of his new composition, Citypiece, DC Monuments (June 28).

In just over three years, the Kennedy Center has hosted more than 12,000 performers from all 50 states and from 23 countries.

Performances are Webcast live on the Internet every day starting at 6 p.m. ET for one hour.

Previous performances are available in a searchable archive.

There's a calendar of upcoming events on the site.

• To find out more about Washington area attractions, click on the headline "More On Washington" in the box at the top right of this page.
  
  
• For more on free attractions around the U.S. this summer, click on "Free Rides."