Organization

Conductor

Kevin John Edusei

Singer

Katerina Burton

Soprano

Orchestra

National Symphony Orchestra

JFK: The Last Speech with Phylicia Rashad Kevin John Edusei conducts Adams, Ellington & Hailstork

Washington D.C.

United States

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

JFK: The Last Speech with Phylicia Rashad Kevin John Edusei conducts Adams, Ellington & Hailstork: Harlem Ellington (+2 More)

Public

Harlem

JFK The Last Speech

Harmonielehre

Approved

“Our national strength matters, but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much.”

This is one of several quotes from President John F. Kennedy’s final speech that appears in the libretto of JFK: The Last Speech. Delivered in October 1963 at Amherst College to honor poet Robert Frost, Kennedy’s words celebrate the role of an artist in society, noting Frost’s contributions to American arts, culture, and ideology. Be among the first to hear this NSO co-commission—with narration by Tony Award®–winning actress and singer Phylicia Rashad—on a program that also includes Duke Ellington’s swinging trip to Jazz-age Harlem and John Adams’ Harmonielehre, inspired by the composer’s vision of an oil tanker blasting into space.

English

JFK: The Last Speech with Phylicia Rashad Kevin John Edusei conducts Adams, Ellington & Hailstork by Ellington, D., Hailstork, Adams, From (2023/2023), Conductor Kevin John Edusei, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C., United States

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues