In ‘Letters to Jackie,’ Ryan Townsend Strand taps universal emotional responses

November 07, 2024 in Classical, Ravinia Magazine, The Artists

To tenor Ryan Townsend Strand, in 2020, the thousands of deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic and the events of the horrific September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks seemed too recent, and the wounds too raw, to confront directly through his musical art. So he turned to another shocking moment in the nation’s history as a proxy to begin to come to terms with the grief the two incidents provoked—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In collaboration with pianist Karina Kontorovitch, Strand oversaw the creation of Letters to Jackie, a program consisting of 14 song settings of letters of condolence and support written to Jacqueline Kennedy following her husband’s death. The two musicians premiered Letters to Jackie in November 2023 at Chicago’s Epiphany Center for the Arts, marking the 60th anniversary of the assassination. Ravinia will host the second Chicago-area performance November 16 as part of the Fall Series in Bennett Gordon Hall.

‘Letters to Jackie’ Album Release Highlights Ryan Townsend Strand’s Songcraft

October 28, 2024 in Classical, The Artists

Just days before making his Ravinia debut on November 16 with a solo concert in Bennett Gordon Hall, the 2021 American Prize–winning tenor Ryan Townsend Strand makes his solo recording debut with music from his signature song project Letters to Jackie. The specially commissioned songs from composers across generations—Augusta Read Thomas, Jen Shyu, Will Liverman, Tom Cipullo, Libby Larsen, Nicholas Cline, Adore Alexander, Skyler Butenshon, Matthew Recio, Timothy C. Takach, and Erik Pearson—set to letters to Jacqueline Kennedy after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The album, Dear Mrs. Kennedy, is being released by Sono Luminus on November 8; the Ravinia concert performance also features songs by B.E. Boykin, Aaron Helgeson, and LJ White written for Letters to Jackie.

Soprano Karen Slack creates opportunities to sing transformative tales

July 08, 2024 in Classical, Music Education, Ravinia Magazine, Steans Music Institute, The Artists

Success, as the saying goes, happens when opportunity meets preparation. It’s an old saw that has proven itself time and again, especially in the performing arts. But wonderful things also happen when successful people create their own opportunities.

Which brings us to Karen Slack.

The Philadelphia-born soprano, a 2008 alumna of the Steans Music Institute at Ravinia, is a familiar presence on operatic stages throughout the United States and abroad, where her luscious, lyrico-spinto instrument has graced the music of Verdi, through Wagner, to Gershwin, Heggie, and beyond. Slack has possibly made her most notable impact, however, in her support of contemporary music. On August 1, Ravinia audiences can experience the latest of Slack’s commissioning projects with the world premiere of African Queens, a program of new vocal compositions from Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson, who have grown together in recent years to become the creative collective “The Blacknificent Seven.”