Inauguration Day update: Aretha Franklin, John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma tapped to perform

Inaugural ceremony: Barack Obama is clearly the star of his presidential swearing-in ceremony. But just in case you need more reasons to go, here are the headliners planned for the Jan. 20 event on the west front of the U.S. Capitol.

Here’s how the day should roll: The U.S. Marine Band opens with music along with the San Francisco Boys Chorus and Girls Chorus.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who heads the inaugural ceremonies committee, delivers welcoming remarks. After an invocation by Rick Warren (he of Saddleback Church fame where Obama and John McCain appeared in pre-election days), Aretha Franklin sings.

Then Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens gives the oath of office to Vice President-elect Joe  Biden. And then somehow, in what will likely be a bitter cold day, John Williams conducts Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and others in a musical selection. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts then swears in Obama.

Next, Obama gives his inaugural address, poet Elizabeth Alexander reads a poem, Joseph Lowery gives a benediction and the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters perform the national anthem.

How to see the ceremony: See my prior blog post Obama’s inauguration: Heard from Congress about those tickets?

At this point, you should have already made your request for tickets from your member of Congress (that’s the only way to get free tickets to the swearing-in ceremony). However, if you don’t get tickets, you can still get in on what promises to be a mosh pit of an unprecedented crowd on the National Mall.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee (folks selected by Obama to plan his inauguration) will open the entire mall — not just the secured area around the west front of the Capitol where you need a ticket — so that people can witness the swearing-in. Large-screen TVs will be set up along the mall “to make next year’s historic inauguration as accessible as possible to citizens in Washington, D.C., and across the country,” said Emmett S. Beliveau, executive director of the committee.

Related post: Inauguration Day update: Get a Metro Pass now.

– Mary Forgione, L.A. Times staff writer

[Photo: Political Americana sells personalized souvenirs for the upcoming inauguration; Chip Somodevilla /Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 11:54 am by Mary Forgione and is filed under Airline travel, East Coast, Washington D.C., Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.