By Daily Press staff
The notoriety of one Santa Monica resident who has spent the majority of his career behind the scenes and the lens of his camera will be brought to the national spotlight this week. And he is bringing dozens of local musical students with him.
Friday morning, March 31, NBC’s Today Show will air a feature piece on Santa Monica-based Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, David Hume Kennerly.
Kennerly won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for his photos of the Vietnam War, and was chief White House photographer for President Gerald R. Ford. He recently ended a 10-year association with Newsweek Magazine as contributing editor and, effective immediately, Kennerly was named NBC News contributing editor by NBC News president Steve Capus.
The Today Show’s national correspondent Jamie Gangel’s interviews Kennerly about his four decades of shooting on the front lines of history. Interviews took place at Nathans restaurant in Washington, D.C., which has redecorated its main dining room exclusively in Kennerly-limited edition fine art prints of classic political images. Taping also took place at Kennerly’s Los Angeles studio and a rehearsal of the Santa Monica youth string ensemble, Elemental Strings, which Kennerly was photographing.
Elemental Strings is an elementary string orchestra program for fourth and fifth graders in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School district, solely sponsored by the Santa Monica-based Maestro Foundation. Thirty students, chosen by audition, receive instruction in orchestral and chamber music works on a weekly basis from a team of specialized educators. The opportunity to learn the fundamentals of ensemble performance is otherwise unavailable to elementary school students in the area. The Elemental Strings Orchestra showcases its work in two performances each year. Maestro hosts the year-end chamber concert and presents awards to the most industrious students.
The Maestro Foundation’s long-term goal is to improve the quality of the middle and high school level music programs in the school district and to engage more young people on a deeper level in music and the arts. The Maestro Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, devoted to projects in music since 1984. Chaired by Aaron Mendelsohn, with Julia Cser as the executive/artistic director, the Maestro Foundation is committed to its love for and support of music and musicians. In addition to its sponsorship of Elemental Strings, the foundation also sponsors the Maestro Chamber Music Series, the Robert E. Turner Annual Piano Recital, the BRIEFS, from page 3
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 29, 2006. Read the original PDF.