Aretha Franklin will team up with Condoleezza Rice for a benefit concert in Philadelphia next month. You read that right: Condi Rice, the former Secretary of State, is an accomplished pianist who will accompany the Queen of Soul as she sings “Handel, Mozart and the hits,” according to a press release, at Philly’s Mann Center for Performing Arts on July 27. Proceeds will benefit programs that support inner city children and the Mann Center’s own education initiatives.
Rice will accompany Franklin on her hits “Say a Little Prayer” and “Natural Woman,” in addition to performing a 20-minute set with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It will be the first of a series of concerts with Rice and Franklin, who calls Rice “a consummate classical pianist and since I sing the arias, I thought that we could do something, a bipartisan effort for our favorite charities.”
