Teen prodigy tickles ivories, Iraq

BAGHDAD - A 13-year-old piano prodigy from Los Angeles brought an Iraqi audience to its feet on Saturday when he made a rare guest appearance with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, a city struggling to revive its once-vibrant cultural scene.

Llewellyn Kingman Sanchez Werner, who studies piano and composition at New York's renowned Juilliard School, got a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd of about 250 after performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and warmly embraced the conductor.

Most of the audience at Baghdad's Rasheed Hotel was Iraqi, though a few American soldiers were in the crowd.