LOS ANGELES — Quincy Jones , who once embarked on an international diplomatic tour with jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, will receive the U.S. Department of State's inaugural Peace Through Music Award.

A ceremony honoring the 28-time Grammy winning producer, musician and arranger will be held Wednesday night and as part of the launch of the State Department's new Global Music Diplomacy Initiative.

The award recognizes American musicians, producers, professionals and beyond who have “played an invaluable role in cross-cultural exchanges and whose music work advances peace and mutual understanding globally,” according to a press release.

Jones will receive the award from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. at a ceremony boasting an eclectic lineup of American and international talent across generations and genres.

Dave Grohl, Mickey Guyton, Herbie Hancock, Jamie Barton, GAYLE, Christopher Jackson, LADAMA, Aimee Mann, Rakim, Armani White, and DJ 2-Tone will perform.

In 1956, Jones served as the music director and trumpeter for Gillespie and his band on the first U.S. State Department jazz tour of Southern Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. The tour was part of a Cold War program to spotlight American music and culture and counteract similar efforts by the Soviet Union.

Jones went on to become one of the biggest influences on music, producing the top-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller" and “We Are the World”, and receiving Oscar nominations for the score and original song from “The Color Purple.”

The Global Music Diplomacy Initiative launch includes three key announcements: a partnership between the State Department and the Recording Academy for the American Music Mentorship Program to bring artists to the U.S. for career development opportunities (the first kicks off in Fall 2024); music-focused efforts to promote an English-language learning curriculum abroad and the Fulbright-Kennedy Center Visiting Scholar Award in Arts and Science.

“You’re going to see a long-standing partnership between the Academy and the State Department,” Mason said in an interview.

He called music the ideal tool for diplomacy.

“I just believe music has a special and unique way of bringing people’s awareness to the forefront. And it’s almost darn near magic. It’s like, we call it ‘the miracle of music.’ It has the ability to have people who may or may not even like each other, stand next to each other, and nod their head, clap their hands and sing,” he said.

“Or it has people who might come from different countries or have different beliefs, different religions — all total polar opposite views of the way the world works — but they love their favorite artists, and they all love it just the same as the other man or woman.”

The State Department has long instituted music-based diplomacy initiatives, from President Roosevelt founding the Office of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA) in 1940 to Bruce Springsteen performing for 300,000 fans in East Berlin in 1988, the year before the wall fell, to the 2010s “Next Level,” an effort to build a global community through hip-hop.

“I’ve always had a deep love for music in part because it has the potential to connect cultures and tell the American story around the world,” Blinken told the AP.

“By launching this effort, we hope to expose a new generation of global audiences to what previous generations have found so compelling: our people and culture. We have no more powerful tools in our diplomatic toolkit, and I look forward to seeing – and listening to – the results of this initiative.”

The Global Music Diplomacy Initiative was developed following the 2022 Promoting Peace, Education, and Cultural Exchange (PEACE) through Music Diplomacy Act.

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MILAN — Donatella Versace slammed the Italian government for what she described as anti-gay policies in a speech that referenced her late brother, Gianni Versace, while receiving a fashion award Sunday.

“Our government is trying to take away people’s rights to live as they wish," Versace said Sunday night, citing in particular a government policy that allows only the biological parent in same-sex couples to be officially recognized as the parent. “They are restricting our freedoms,” she said.

“We must all fight for freedom, in a time that still sees trans people suffering terrible violence, a time when children of same-sex couples are not considered their children, a time when minority voices are attacked by new laws,'' Versace said.

The speech received a standing ovation from a fashion crowd at La Scala, where Versace was accepting a humanitarian award.

Gay rights activists praised her for clearly challenging the government’s actions, but called on the entire fashion community to do more.

“Donatella Versace was the first person in Italy to be so clear and explicit in the face of the government’s homophobic politics,’’ said Franco Grillini, a longtime gay rights activist. “She is one of the most important names in fashion, and I invite others to follow her example.”

Besides blocking recognition of children of same-sex couples, Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government is pushing through legislation that would ban seeking a surrogate abroad, making it punishable with prison terms and stiff penalties. A 2004 law already banned surrogacy within Italy.

Italy’s Gay Party also praised Versace’s support and called on her to back their campaign to get a a referendum on gay marriage on the Italian ballot.

“Donatella Versace’s declaration is important (...) She made clear how this government is diminishing freedoms and rights for the LGBTQ community,’’ said Fabrizio Marrazzo, spokesman for the Gay Party and the referendum for egalitarian marriage. “We ask her to support us, in particular the campaign to make marriage for lesbians, gays and trans people the same as for everyone else.”

They hope to begin gathering signatures in January, aware that “this parliamentary majority does not want to give us rights.” Italy approved same-sex civil unions in 2016, the last major Western country to do so.

Versace, who has been creative director of the fashion house founded by her brother since his 1997 murder, was accompanied to the awards by Alessandro Zan, the Democratic Party lawmaker who drafted legislation expanding anti -discrimination protections to the LGBTQ community. The legislation was stalled even before the Meloni government took office.

In a touching moment, Versace also recalled the day her brother Gianni came out to her.

“I was 11 years old when my brother Gianni told me he was gay. For me it changed nothing. I loved him and I didn’t care who he loved,’’ she told the crowd.

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ROME — Sophia Loren expressed gratitude for all the affection she received following surgery after she fractured a hip and thigh bone in a bathroom fall, her agent said Tuesday.

Andrea Giusti quoted the actress, 89, as saying: “I thank everyone for the closeness and affection that they are showing me. I am better, just have to do rehabilitation and give myself a period of rest.”

Loren had the surgery Sunday, the same day she fell in her villa near Lake Geneva.

The movie legend has lived in Switzerland for decades. Earlier this month, she appeared, looking radiant, with Italian designer Giorgio Armani in Venice at a fashion show.

From combined wire services