Celebrities, cultural icons and a few surprise guests paid tribute to honorees at the annual Kennedy Center Honors celebration in Washington, D.C.

The annual gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts features personalized tributes with performances and testimonials from fellow artists.

This year’s recipients of the lifetime achievement award for artistic accomplishment are director Francis Ford Coppola, the Grateful Dead, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and singer-songwriter