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WASHINGTON, Apr 8, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice leads a very hectic public life but her private realm in Washington is filled with the sound of music.
An accomplished pianist who once considered pursuing music professionally, Rice holds frequent chamber music sessions with four lawyer friends in her apartment at the Watergate complex, The Washington Post reports.
Two of the players in her ensemble had successful music careers before switching to the law, a third moonlighted as a musician and the fourth studied violin during college and law school.
Rice is not the only secretary of state to pursue amateur music-making. Thomas Jefferson was reported to be an excellent violinist who played chamber music, especially Baroque trio sonatas, throughout his political career.
People often ask her whether playing chamber music is relaxing.
"It's not exactly relaxing if you are struggling to pay Brahms," the secretary of state said. "But it is transporting. When you're playing there is only room for Brahms or Shostakovich. It's the time I'm most away from myself, and I treasure it."
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
