Robert De Niro recites Abraham Lincoln’s warning call for ‘civility’ at Carnegie Hall

'Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence,' the Oscar-winning actor said.

Robert De Niro walked onto the stage at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night, where he received loud applause before he recited excerpts from a Philip Glass symphony about Abraham Lincoln.

“Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence,” the Oscar-winning actor said as he recited a call for civility, as first spoken by Lincoln in 1838. “Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws.”

De Niro was a featured performer at the 39th annual benefit concert for the non-profit cultural and educational organization, Tibet House US, where other artists, including Laurie Anderson, Elvis Costello, Maya Hawke and Allison Russell, also appeared.

The 82-year-old actor read excerpts from Lincoln’s 1838 “Lyceum Address,” a warning against mob violence and the dangers it created for democracy and the rule of law, which he delivered to a young man’s debating society in Springfield, Ill.

Philip Glass, a co-director of Tuesday night’s benefit, used the address as inspiration for his Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln.” Glass was supposed to premiere his symphony at the Kennedy Center in June but announced earlier this year that he was calling off the performance, following the addition of U.S. President Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts institution.

“Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony,” Glass said in a statement at the time. “Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership.”

During his appearance on Tuesday, De Niro did not mention Trump, whom he has denounced often over the past decade.

Last week, De Niro called for peaceful protests after he said the U.S. was “imploding” and the goal was “to get rid of Trump.”