OPERA SEARCH
JFK Opera Score Published in Honor of Anniversary
Boosey & Hawkes releases the piano-vocal score for David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s opera JFK this fall in honor of the 60th anniversary of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy—a historical moment that has inspired numerous musical tributes over the decades.
This fall, Boosey & Hawkes publishes the piano-vocal score for the opera JFK, created by composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek. The new publication is released in honor of the 60th anniversary of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 2023. President Kennedy’s death was a historical moment that has inspired numerous musical tributes over the decades.
Little and Vavrek’s opera JFK premiered at Fort Worth Opera in 2016, commissioned by Fort Worth Opera, American Lyric Theater, and Opera de Montreal. The opera is, as described by the creators, “a portrait of a precipice,” delving into the final hours that President John F. Kennedy spent in Fort Worth, Texas immediately before his assassination in Dallas.
After the premiere, the Wall Street Journal proclaimed that Little and Vavrek “have captured the national sorrow and shock of that time.” The New York Times praised the opera as “haunting” and “rapturous,” and the Washington Post named Little as “a hope for the future of opera.”
The new piano-vocal score of JFK will be available later this year. A publication of “Jackie Arias from the Opera JFK” for mezzo-soprano and piano is also available.
> Pre-order the JFK piano-vocal score
Other major tributes to Kennedy include Stravinsky’s Elegy for JFK, written for baritone and three clarinets setting specially commissioned lyrics from WH Auden; Leonard Bernstein’s MASS (commissioned by Jackie Kennedy in honor of the opening of the Kennedy Center); James MacMillan’s A Cecilian Variation for J.F.K. On October 2, Steven Mackey’s string quartet One Red Rose—composed in 2013 for the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination—received a new recording by the Julius Quartet on the album Unspoken, featuring works dedicated to Kennedy.
