Dear Mrs. Kennedy Ryan Townsend Strand & Karina Kontorovitch

• Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964): Oh Jacqueline:
• 1 Thomas: Oh Jacqueline: Processional 04:56
• Tom Cipullo (b. 1956): A Litany of Sympathy:
• 2 Cipullo: A Litany of Sympathy 05:31
• Jen Shyu (b. 1978): My Name Is Minerva Chapa:
• 3 Shyu: My Name Is Minerva Chapa 06:32
• Nicholas Cline: May I, May You:
• 4 Cline: May I, May You 05:19
• Adore Alexander: Dear Mrs. Kennedy:
• 5 Alexander: Dear Mrs. Kennedy 04:29
• Will Liverman (b. 1988): A Tribute to Mr. J.F.K.:
• 6 Liverman: A Tribute to Mr. J.F.K. 03:55
• Skyler Butenshon: Letter to the Cornell Daily Sun, 12-2-1963:
• 7 Butenshon: Letter to the Cornell Daily Sun, 12-2-1963 02:54
• Matthew Recio: Might Be Equal:
• 8 Recio: Might Be Equal 03:25
• Timothy C. Takach (b. 1978): Thanksgiving Day, 1963:
• 9 Takach: Thanksgiving Day, 1963 04:39
• Libby Larsen (b. 1950): Keys & Pennies:
• 10 Larsen: Keys & Pennies 07:06
• Erik Pearson (b. 1984): Trondheim, Norway:
• 11 Pearson: Trondheim, Norway 08:22
• Augusta Read Thomas: Oh Jacqueline: Recessional:
• 12 Thomas: Oh Jacqueline: Recessional 03:33
• Total Runtime 01:00:41

Info for Dear Mrs. Kennedy

There is power in the written word. The words we say often go unremembered, spilling out into our world and never reaching another’s ear. When words are important enough to write, they gain the power of history. When words are important enough to sing, they gain the power of humanity.

On November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while sitting next to his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. For years to come after this infamous day, letters were written to Jackie, expressing condolences and confusion, the spectrum of grief memorialized in the written word. This project has sought to give voice to those letters, providing community for listeners sharing in that collective grief. It is a touchstone for turning inward and experiencing grief through the lens of a national tragedy.

The music of Dear Mrs. Kennedy provides a communal journey to safely explore grief and spark conversation on the importance of human connection. Rather than President Kennedy or First Lady Jackie explicitly, the central character in this music is Grief itself: the grief of a nation—and of a world.

Ryan Townsend Strand, tenor
Karina Kontorovitch, piano

Ryan Townsend Strand
is a Minnesota native whose "beautiful vocalism" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "...attractive nimble tenor” (Chicago Classical Review) have afforded him a budding career as a concert and oratorio soloist. Highlights of the 2020-2021 season include returning to Haymarket Opera Company to perform Handel’s Acis and Galatea in October, debuting with the Illinois Philharmonic as the tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah in December, and continuing his performances of Bach’s Cantatas this spring with the Bach Vespers at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, IL. Strand made his professional Chicago opera debut in Haymarket Opera Theater’s production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci nel sembiante (Armindo). With his passion for the next generation of singers, Strand was cast as Frederick in Pirates of Penzance with Opera for the Young, touring throughout the Midwest for elementary school audiences. Opera credits include productions of Così fan tutte (Ferrando) with Transgressive Theater-Opera & Elmhurst Symphony; Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Laurie), Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nero), and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Al Joad) with Northwestern Opera Theater. He would have made his onstage debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago this spring in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung prior to COVID-19.

Strand is a founding member and executive director of Constellation Men’s Ensemble in Chicago.

Karina Kontorovitch
was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. At the age of five, she started attending the Music School for Gifted Children, where she continued to study piano with Olga Manukyan until the family immigrated to the United States in 1991. Ms. Kontorovitch earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Northwestern University, where her teachers include Sylvia Wang, Alan Chow, Laurence Davis and Elizabeth Buccheri.

Ms. Kontorovitch has taught at the Music Arts School in Highland Park and has been on the faculty of the Merit School of Music in Chicago since 2001, teaching all ages and levels. She also serves as an accompanist and vocal coach at Northwestern University, working primarily in the studio of Kurt R. Hansen.

Booklet for Dear Mrs. Kennedy