The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC announced this years honourees for their Kennedy Honors.
Buddy Guy - photo by Ros O'Gorman
From the music world, honours will go to the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones) and to blues great Buddy Guy. Also receiving the award are TV host David Letterman, actor Dustin Hoffman and ballerina Natalia Makarova.
David M. Rubenstein, chairman of the Kennedy Center, said “With their extraordinary talent, creativity and tenacity, the seven 2012 Kennedy Center Honourees have contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world. Buddy Guy is a titan of the blues and has been a tremendous influence on virtually everyone who has picked up an electric guitar in the last half century; Dustin Hoffman’s unyielding commitment to the wide variety of roles he plays has made him one of the most versatile and iconoclastic actors of this or any other generation; David Letterman is one of the most influential personalities in the history of television, entertaining an entire generation of late-night viewers with his unconventional wit and charm; Natalia Makarova’s profound artistry has ignited the stages of the world’s greatest ballet companies and continues to pass the torch to the next generation of dancers; and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transformed the sound of rock and roll with their lyricism and innovative song structures, infusing blues into the sound of rock and roll and laying the foundation for countless rock bands.”
The awards will be presented during a gala on Sunday, December 2 at the Kennedy Center where a number of personalities from throughout the entertainment world will salute the honourees. The award recipients will attend a reception with President Obama and the first lady at the White House prior to the ceremony and will sit with them at the gala.
George Stevens, Jr. is writing and producing the awards for the 35th year, with the evening being broadcast on CBS on Wednesday, December 26.
