White House Hosts Classical Concert

Updated 5:50 p.m. ET

With two concerts and a series of workshops for young musicians, the White House put a big spotlight on classical music Wednesday and sent a strong message that it's not just for stuffed shirts.

"Nothing mixes old and new like classical music," first lady Michelle Obama told students who spent the morning in music workshops and then attended an afternoon concert in which child prodigies shared the stage with some of classical music's biggest superstars.

"You can mix and blend your instruments in ways that Beethoven and Mozart never could have imagined," the first lady told the youngsters, pronouncing them "the classical music superstars of tomorrow."

Acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt plunked himself down on a piano bench next to 14-year-old Lucy Hattemer of Cincinnati to perform a Schubert duet on the East Room's Steinway. Renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein, 27, was upstaged by her 8-year-old partner, Sujari Britt, a student at New York's Manhattan School of Music, when they performed a duet by Italian composer Luigi Boccherini.

The concert also featured performances by Grammy-winners Sharon Isbin on guitar and Joshua Bell on violin.

Bell, performing in shirt sleeves and jeans, introduced a Paganini duet with Isbin by telling the audience that the Italian violinist was "sort of like the Beatles of his time."

Bell also showed that not even the pros are immune to the occasional flub. During his duet with Isbin, Bell inadvertently skipped a couple of lines, and jokingly pronounced it "the abridged version."

President Barack Obama was to speak at an evening concert featuring some of the same musicians.

Mrs. Obama gave the youngsters a big shout-out for practicing even when they don't feel like it, lugging around heavy instruments and laboring to perfect tough pieces.

"It's through that struggle that you find what you truly have to offer to your instrument or to anything in life," she said. "You'll learn that if you believe in yourself and put in your best effort, that there's nothing that you can't achieve. And those aren't just lessons about music. These are really lessons about life."

After the first concert, 16-year-old percussionist Jason Yoder pronounced it "a very good day for classical music." A student at Pittsburgh's Creative and Performing Arts School, he performed a duet of Saint-Saens' "The Swan" with Isbin.

"In my generation, classical music is kind of looked down upon," Yoder said, adding that the White House spotlight could help change that.

The day's events were part of a White House Music Series that also has featured jazz, Latin and country music.

Earlier Wednesday, Mrs. Obama showcased after-school programs in the arts and humanities by hosting an awards ceremony for more than a dozen recipients of the Coming Up Taller awards. The awards recognize programs outside of the schools that encourage young people to express themselves through the arts.