The 2023 winners of the Praemium Imperiale, the Japanese arts prizes, were announced on Tuesday: Wynton Marsalis, for music; Diébédo Francis Kéré, for architecture; Robert Wilson, for theater; Vija Celmins, for painting; and Olafur Eliasson, for sculpture. Marsalis, Wilson, and Celmins were present for a ceremony in the East Wing of the White House, with Jill Biden hosting. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the chairperson of the American Nomination Committee (there are various nominating committees), presented the winners. I was honored to receive an invitation to attend. Although I grew up in Washington, DC, I'd only once been inside the White House, and not under such lofty circumstances. After the ceremony, Marsalis jammed with a jazz combo drawn from the élite U.S. Marine Band. The pianist, Christopher Schmitt, is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and Juilliard; you can also catch him playing Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time.