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Chicago Symphony to perform ‘Elegy for JFK’

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is honoring the legacy of President John F. Kennedy with a performance of “Elegy for J.F.K.” by Igor Stravinsky.

The piece will be performed at the orchestra’s concerts Thursday through Sunday with guest conductor Michael Tilson Thomas to mark the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination.

Stravinsky wrote the work in 1964 as a memorial to Kennedy after the assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

The orchestra will perform the brief work for the first time with soloist mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor. “Elegy for J.F.K.” is scored for baritone or mezzo-soprano and three clarinets.

The text was written at Stravinsky’s request by British poet W. H. Auden.

Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is also on the program.

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