Scarlatti, Schönberg, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss and Vivaldi. She was also a zealous evangelist for American composers, including Dominick Argento, Amy Beach, Bernstein, William Bolcom, Aaron Copland, Richard Danielpour, Carol Hall, Richard Hundley, John Musto, Thomas Pasatieri, Ned Rorem, Michael Tilson Thomas, Virgil Thomson and Jake Heggie.Frederica von Stade Recital, with Martin Isepp, Gala CD, GL 339Frederica von Stade: The Complete Columbia Recital Albums, Sony CD, 88875183412, 2016 Special events There are several connections between von Stade's family and the world of American politics. Her aunt, Dolly von Stade, was a guest at the Kennedys' home in Hyannis Port; her father-in-law, Richard J. Elkus, was a friend and diplomatic envoy of President Richard Nixon; her uncle Frederick H. von Stade was an intimate of President George H. W. Bush; and she herself helped to babysit some of Robert F. Kennedy's children when she was a 10-year-old. When a classical singer was needed for a special occasion in Washington, it was often von Stade who was summoned. On December 4, 1973, she went to the White House to entertain President Nixon, Romania's President Nicolae Ceausescu and Nixon's personal barber with an excerpt from the beginning of Act 2 of Il barbiere di Siviglia performed with the Washington Opera Society; it was the last such event mounted there before Nixon's resignation. On January 19, 1977, she took part in the televised "New Spirit" gala presented at the Kennedy Center to celebrate the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, singing "Take care of this house" from Bernstein's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue under the direction of the composer.The Bernstein Songbook, Sony CD, MK 44760, 1988 On January 19, 1985, she sang "Nobles seigneurs, salut" from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots at the televised gala preceding the second inauguration of President Ronald Reagan. On December 27, 1985, she performed for Reagan again when she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke gets in your eyes" and "You are love" in homage to Irene Dunne in the televised gala The Kennedy Center Honors: A Tribute to the Performing Arts. On May 31, 1990, she sang George Gershwin's "Summertime" and numbers from Show Boat in a recital in the East Room of the White House after a banquet that President George H. W. Bush gave in honour of the Soviet Union's President Mikhail Gorbachev. And on March 8, 2009, she joined Bill Cosby, Lauren Bacall, Denyce Graves, President Barack Obama and others in a