Brian Wilson And Leon Fleisher Among Prestigious Group of Kennedy Center Honorees

The Kennedy Center honors take center stage on CBS Wednesday night. Along with this year's recipients--Steve Martin, Diana Ross and others--is Baltimore-based world renowned pianist Leon Fleisher.Baltimore's Leon Fleisher is being honored as one of the world's greatest pianists but also for being able to go on when his right hand would not.

Marking its 30th year, the Kennedy Center Honors effortlessly achieves the celebratory tone to which most award shows can only aspire. This year's edition of the honors, invariably a mixed bag in its tributes, delivers a couple of transcendent moments: Steve Carell's riotous turn honoring Steve Martin, and the simple loveliness of a boys choir serenading the stoic Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson while beach balls descend from the rafters to be joyously batted around by the black-tie crowd. Although scheduled in recent years as more an obligation than an event, the honors remain one of TV's classiest evenings.

Fleisher also uncovered old piano pieces written for one hand and he started playing for audiences again. He made one triumphant two-handed appearance for the opening of the Meyerhoff in the early 80s, but it wasn't until 2001 that the man, his hands and his music became whole again. A treatment that involved getting botox injections in his hand allowed Fleisher's fingers to loosen up and his left hand finally had its partner back.