on June 22, 1945, was the first public performance of the jazz style that came to be known as bebop. Another jazz concert in 1946, featuring Billie Holiday's first solo appearance, sold out rapidly. Town Hall's musical popularity peaked in the late 1940s and early 1950s. During June 1947, Town Hall hosted a Louis Armstrong concert, which led to the formation of Louis Armstrong and His All Stars. In 1949, Burl Ives gave a folk-song concert, which was popular enough that the audience requested seven encore performances. Lotte Lenya gave a concert in 1951 in memory of her late husband, composer Kurt Weill. In April 1953, Anna Russell gave a performance of her humorous analysis of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, which was recorded. Duke Ellington performed for The Fresh Air Fund in 1957, and Carlos Montoya gave a guitar recital. The events in 1958 included Betty Allen's first New York City performance; the American Opera Society's presentation of The Coronation of Poppea; and the 25th Year Retrospective Concert of the music of John Cage. Igor Stravinsky gave the U.S. premiere of his composition Threni in 1959. Shows in the 1960s included a benefit for the Morningside Mental Hygiene Clinic in 1960, Bob Dylan's large-concert debut in 1963, and a Coretta Scott King Freedom Concert in 1964. Jazz composer and bandleader Charles Mingus held two concerts there, resulting in his live albums from October 1962 and April 1964. Bill Evans and his trio recorded a live album in 1966, Bill Evans at Town Hall. A panel debate between Norman Mailer and feminist activists Jacqueline Caballos, Jill Johnston, Diana Trilling, and Germaine Greer took place on April 30, 1971. Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker filmed the event and released Town Bloody Hall in 1979. 1980s to present In 1982, the Town Hall Foundation started to host the People's Symphony Concerts series. The cast of the folk music mockumentary film A Mighty Wind performed in character at the Town Hall in September 2003 as part of a seven-city tour. In September 2009, singer Whitney Houston chose the Town Hall for her first interview in seven years, appearing on Oprah Winfrey's season premiere; the Town Hall was where Houston performed for the first time at the age of 14. When hosted by Garrison Keillor, the radio show A Prairie Home Companion was often broadcast live from the Town Hall in its New