Condoleezza Rice plays piano for Queen at palace

Outgoing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played the piano for Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace Monday as a farewell gesture before the end of the Bush administration's term next month.

Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday the top U.S. diplomat played Brahms and was accompanied on violin by Louise Miliband, the wife of Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband, along with three London Symphony Orchestra members.

An accomplished pianist who ultimately chose foreign policy instead of becoming a professional musician, Rice has made several public music performances as the top US diplomat.

McCormack said the royal recital was in a music room at the palace and the Queen had presented a recording of the performance to Rice afterwards. The musicians practiced for an hour beforehand, he added.

"It was all organized by the British and just a very nice gesture as a farewell gift," McCormack said.

Rice is in London on what is expected to be her final British visit before President-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20, 2009. Rice will be replaced by former first lady and New York Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

Rice moves on to Brussels Tuesday for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers and is then set to fly to New Delhi for meetings with Indian officials after last week's attacks in Mumbai.

即將卸任的美國國務卿康多莉扎•賴斯于本周一在英國白金漢宮為女王伊麗莎白二世獻上了精彩的鋼琴演奏，作為布什政府任期結束前的一份告別禮物。

賴斯的發(fā)言人西恩•麥考馬克于本周二稱，當天賴斯為女王彈奏的是（德國作曲家）勃拉姆斯的曲子，英國外交部長的妻子路易絲•米利班德為她拉小提琴伴奏，一同伴奏的還有倫敦交響樂團的三名成員。

賴斯在任國務卿期間曾公開表演過幾次鋼琴獨奏。賴斯的鋼琴造詣頗深，但她最終沒有選擇做一名職業(yè)音樂家，而是成為了一名外交官。

麥考馬克說，當天的演奏地點在白金漢宮的一間音樂廳，女王將賴斯彈奏的鋼琴曲錄制了下來作為禮物回送給賴斯。據(jù)他透露，幾位演奏家還預先排練了一個小時。

麥考馬克說：“此次演奏全由英方組織安排，堪稱一份非常不錯的告別禮物。”

這是賴斯在任期間最后一次訪問英國，美國總統(tǒng)當選人巴拉克•奧巴馬將于明年1月20日就任。賴斯的國務卿一職將由前第一夫人、紐約州參議員希拉里•克林頓接任。

賴斯于本周二離開英國前往布魯塞爾，參加北約外長會議。之后，她將前往印度首都新德里會見印度官員。上周，印度孟買市發(fā)生了連環(huán)爆炸恐怖襲擊事件。