DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with David T. Little and Royce Vavrek. A noted composer whose music has been performed around the world, Little is the composer of the opera JFK, which had its world premiere at the Fort Worth Opera in 2016. JFK librettist Royce Vavrek, a native of Alberta, Canada, is an award-winning librettist and lyricist whose opera, "Angel's Bone," with composer Dun Yun, was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on April 15, 2016 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and twenty minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
Exhibit Label: Born in New Jersey, David Little pursued music from the time he was a student performing musical theatre in high school. In college, his interest shifted toward composing. Growing up in an Irish Catholic family in the northeast, Little was always interested in the Kennedy family and curious about the assassination. He met librettist Royce Vavrek in 2008 and they have collaborated on numerous projects since then, including the operas Dog Days and JFK.(Text from Special exhibit, "Art Reframes History," on view on the Museum's seventh floor from September 9, 2020 through May 9, 2021)
Exhibit Label: Originally from Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada, Royce Vavrek did not see a live opera performance until he was 19, although he was interested in opera as an art form from a much earlier age. As a child he was fascinated by a book called The Rough Guide to Opera—an anthology of synopses, great cast recordings and amazing opera singers from the last 150 years. In 2009, his opera Dog Days, a collaboration with David Little, debuted at Carnegie Hall. (Text from Special exhibit, "Art Reframes History," on view on the Museum's seventh floor from September 9, 2020 through May 9, 2021)
Exhibit Label: Commissioned by the Fort Worth Opera, American Lyric Theater and Opéra de Montréal, JFK takes place in the 12 hours before President Kennedy was assassinated. The modern opera uses dreams, nightmares and visions to take characters to other times and places, to visit people from their past and future, and to explore their innermost struggles. Both John and Jacqueline Kennedy sing in solo and duet, exploring their shared past as well as their heartbreaks and hopes for the future.
The opera focuses on the Kennedys, “explor[ing] the subconscious of this complicated couple, examining their physical and emotional pain, their joy and love, and their metamorphosis into American myth.” Little and Vavrek explain, “JFK is a portrayal of the man as we project our hopes, dreams and fears upon him. It explores the sense of profound loss we still feel.” (Text from Special exhibit, "Art Reframes History," on view on the Museum's seventh floor from September 9, 2020 through May 9, 2021)
In addition to this 2016 oral history, Royce Vavrek and David T. Little participated in a Fort Worth Opera program entitled, "The Arts: An Evening Dedicated to Ruth Carter Stevenson," which took place at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth on March 24, 2016. The full program can be viewed on the Museum's YouTube channel: The Arts: An Evening Dedicated to Ruth Carter Stevenson - YouTube. More recently, Vavrek and Little were part of a virtual Museum panel discussion, "Trauma, Tragedy and the Healing Power of Music," in October 2020. The full recording can also be viewed on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09UOOpQOgj8. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
