Among those paying homage to Díaz were Chita Rivera, Denyce Graves and Grace Bumbry. Best known for performing villains, Díaz was Iago in Franco Zeffirelli's 1986 film version of Verdi's Otello starring Plácido Domingo. The Puerto Rican native has shared the world's most famous stages with such renowned singers as Leontyne Price and Joan Sutherland. Honoree Justino Díaz sang in the inaugural performance at the Kennedy Center's Opera House as the leading male role in Alberto Ginastera's Beatrix Cenci. This year marks the Kennedy Center's 50th anniversary. I'm doing all right," she said to a hearty round of applause. "I've had to come back several times, for one thing, and this last one was a real whopper. "I think the polio was a rehearsal for the rest of my life," she said after receiving her Kennedy Center Honor medallion. In 2015, Joni Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm that nearly killed her. Michael Butcher / Kennedy Center President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff celebrate the 44th group of Kennedy Center honorees. When Mitchell started playing ukulele and guitar, Hancock explained, she "devised her own tunings so she could access the emotionally complex chords that she was hearing in her mind." When Mitchell was nine years old, she contracted polio.
"Poetically expansive" is how pianist and composer Herbie Hancock described Mitchell's classic song Both Sides Now, which she wrote when she was in her early 20s. Joni Mitchell was honored for her timeless, emotional songs on such albums as Court and Spark - and Blue. In President Trump's four years in office, neither he nor Melania Trump attended the Kennedy Center Honors. "It is very nice to see the presidential box once again being occupied," Letterman said.
President Joe Biden and the First Lady attended the gala event Sunday night, a return to tradition that did not go unnoticed by host David Letterman.
The tributes and performances were filmed for a special broadcast to air on CBS on Dec. This year's Kennedy Center honorees Joni Mitchell, Bette Mider, Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels and Justino Díaz were celebrated this weekend with a reception at The White House, a medallion ceremony at The Library of Congress and a splashy, black-tie event at the performing arts center's Opera House.
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