News

Daffodils and Garden Beds – LOCC Blog

By Tanner Porter
November 13, 2023

One of the amazing aspects of getting to be a Creator in Residence with the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps is that the LO provides the composers with housing for the year, so that we can live full-time in Louisville during our residency. Having rented small city apartments most of my adult life, I was absolutely thrilled when I moved to Louisville and saw that the residence I’d be living in had a yard, complete with garden beds in the back.

It’s safe to say that I’m a huge plant person. I love taking care of my houseplants, exchanging cuttings with other plant-enthusiasts, and gifting little propagations to my friends. Seeing the garden beds, I immediately set out to learn about what Fall veggies I could plant, and settled on a variety of lettuces, kale, carrots, radishes, and several kinds of bulbs for the Spring. I haven’t had too many chances to grow veggies in recent years, as none of the small apartments I’ve lived in had accessible outdoor space. (Anything beyond potted, windowsill herbs felt beyond me!)

But here in Louisville, I have the chance to grow a vegetable garden…and make a few mistakes along the way. Namely, I learned that first frosts can happen sooner than the internet says they will, and that I should have invested in warm coverings for my seedlings earlier on. The initial round of lettuces were stunted by a quicker-than-anticipated cold snap, but I still got some delicious arugula sprouts of it. Better luck next time!

Having grown up in Southern California, I was especially excited about being able to plant bulbs. When I was a kid, my Mom grew a number of bulbs in pots (mostly Narcissus), and we always had to put them in the refrigerator for that synthetic “cold snap.” Here in Kentucky, you can just plant bulbs right in the ground and let nature do its thing! Woohoo!

I decided to plant Hyacinth, Crocus, and Daffodil bulbs. The thing I find loveliest about this is that the flowers will come back next year, after my residency is over, and hopefully bloom for whichever Creator is living here at that time.

Because this is such a new program, my cohort and I have role of helping the orchestra shape the Creators Corps initiative; what we learn this year will go forward into helping plan the program for next season. Last year’s cohort left us with the gifts of their advice, kindness and support. I hope to pass these sentiments forward to the next group—and maybe a few Daffodils as well. Here’s hoping the bulbs bloom this Spring, and in Springs to come!

PBS NewsHour – Beyond The Canvas: Spotlight on Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra’s In Harmony Tour

Released October, 27, 2023

In a world where classical music and traditional arts organizations face numerous challenges, the Louisville Orchestra is leading a transformative journey, guided by our visionary music director and conductor, Teddy Abrams. Recently featured on PBS NewsHour’s “Beyond The Canvas,” we’re thrilled to share with you our commitment to redefining the intersection of music and public service.

The Power of Music and Community:
Teddy Abrams, an inspiring force behind the Louisville Orchestra, has a unique perspective on the transformative power of music. For him, it’s about building relationships and forging human connections through the universal language of music. Teddy’s philosophy centers on meeting people where they feel comfortable, whether it’s in their hometown, community center, or school. This unwavering commitment to community engagement and public service lies at the heart of The Louisville Orchestra’s mission, and it resonates with all of us.

A Man on a Mission:
Beyond being a part-time pianist and a full-time music director, Teddy Abrams is a civic leader with a profound dedication to using music to bring people together. He defines his role as a public service in Louisville, and this commitment shines through in his numerous initiatives. Teddy’s passion for music and community engagement is rooted in his early days in California’s Bay Area, where he embarked on his musical journey under the mentorship of renowned conductor Michael Thompson Thomas. Today, he’s not only reinvigorating the Louisville Orchestra and our commitment to the Louisville community, but also renewing our commitment to new music evident in one of our most ambitious endeavors, the In Harmony Commonwealth Tour. This two-year tour of Kentucky intends to spread the joy of music to 40 towns across the state. The excitement of these performances is palpable, and it’s a testament to the orchestra’s commitment to artistic leadership and Teddy’s dedication and vision.

Bridging Divides:
Teddy’s impact extends beyond music as he works tirelessly to bridge the rural-urban divide that plagues many communities. His efforts have garnered support from individuals like Republican Senator Robert Stivers, who recognizes the importance of fostering unity and bridging gaps.

Megan Casper says “You get out in the world, you understand more fully how it’s not that people are lucky to come hear you play. It’s that you are part of the stewardship of the community and of your art. That’s just as important as how well you play.” Brian T. echoed Megan’s sentiment, saying, “I have neighbors who have never been to a concert. There is an energy that is kind of infectious. It is exciting. It forces you to recalibrate your whole perspective on what we are doing in a good way.” Their words reflect the profound impact of The Louisville Orchestra’s mission.

A Model for the Future:
Our mission is a testament to the transformative power of music and community engagement. While we acknowledge the enormity of the challenges, we believe that we must step up and use our skills and talents to make a difference. We are proud to be part of this movement, and we invite you to join us on this inspiring journey.

At the Louisville Orchestra, Teddy Abrams is leading the way in reimagining classical music’s role in society. Our commitment to community engagement, public service, and fostering human connections through music serves as a beacon of hope in an ever-changing world. Together, we can create a harmonious and connected future through the power of music.

Berko’s October Update! – LOCC Blog

By Alex Berko
October 26, 2023 

I have had a wonderful month and a half here in Louisville getting settled into my new home in Shelby Park. We have really hit the ground running here with several orienting and project meetings, recording an upcoming PBS special with Teddy, and having many chances already to see rehearsals and performances by the orchestra. It has been very inspiring to see all the ground-breaking ways this organization operates, especially how they reach so many people who would not normally have access to an orchestra. It has also been exciting to see Chris Thile and Rufus Wainwright, two musicians whom I deeply admire, perform genre-bending sets with the orchestra. I now have many ideas for how my personal voice can be fully realized and expanded in collaboration with this fantastic ensemble. 

As I get details together for my community project, I look forward to working with young students and older adults to create a collaborative piece through interviews and musical activities. I love this idea of combining different generations of people and finding stories through that connection, celebrating our individuality, our quirks, and what makes us human. I am planning to present the work with a string quartet comprised of LO (Louisville Orchestra) musicians and myself on piano. More information on this soon! 

Lastly, as I gather my thoughts for our Creator’s festival in May, I am strongly considering combining a small choir to perform with the Louisville Orchestra. Each of us Creators is connected through our love of the “voice” and “vocal-ness.” For me, choir has always played a vital role in my life, and it feels wonderfully natural to combine singers with the orchestra (maybe that’s the Thile/Wainwright influence…). If you would like to hear some of my choral music, I recently had an album come out with the Grammy-winning choir, Conspirare. Two of my pieces are on the album: Sacred Place, a multi-movement work using Judaism as a framework for environmentalism, and You Through Me, a work about the Elizabeth Street Garden in SoHo, NY. You can find the album anywhere you stream music. 

Lastly, if you see me at a concert, please say hello and tell me what restaurants and bars to go to! I just got married and my wife and I have loved exploring the city. All for now. More soon… 

-Alex 

Flea Market Treasures – LOCC Blog

By Tanner Porter
October 9, 2023 

Our first month here in Louisville as a part of the LO (Louisville Orchestra) Creators Corps was a fantastic whirlwind. After arriving in late August, my fellow Creators and I launched wholeheartedly into introductions to both the Orchestra and the city, exploring the many beautiful venues, parks, and eateries that Louisville offers. 

In those first weeks, one of my favorite experiences was attending the Labor Day Flea at the Kentucky Expo Center. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE flea markets, thrift stores, or garage sales. You never know what you are going to find! And WOW was that the case at the Kentucky Flea, where I spied a true treasure out of the corner of my eye — a spectacularly large Waterphone.  

For those unfamiliar, a Waterphone is a metal percussion instrument made up of a resonator bowl and a protruding neck of tines, which are tuned to specific pitches. It is visually very beautiful— as much a sculpture as it is an instrument and is often used in film scores due to the strange and jarring sounds it can make when bowed or struck. When you pour water into the resonator bowl, the notes played can be bent and swirled to a haunting effect. 

I purchased this Flea Market Waterphone from a booth run by Griswold Rubbish Removal, who kindly supplied me with a bit of history on the instrument. The Waterphone had previously belonged to the Louisville Actors Theatre and had been used in several of their productions. I was delighted to learn about this instrument’s history in the Louisville arts scene and gleefully took it home. 

DESCRIPTION: I happily take the Waterphone home from the Kentucky Expo (photo courtesy of my very amused partner.)

DESCRIPTION: The Waterphone is in its new place of honor, in my living room! 

My favorite sound the Waterphone can create is a low, melancholy tone reminiscent of a whale call. It is this sound that I drew on for the music of “Kin,” a recent ballet choregraphed by Claudia Schreier and commissioned by the San Francisco Ballet. “Kin” involved months of incredibly meaningful artistic collaboration with Schreier, culminating with a premiere of the piece by the San Francisco Ballet back in January of 2023. Over many phone calls and email exchanges, Schreier and I shaped the arc of the score; Schreier’s brilliant artistic insights and kind encouragement pushed my abilities as an orchestrator and musical storyteller into new creative territories, and I am truly proud of the work that we were able to do together. 

In the score for “Kin,” I used the Waterphone and its whale-like tones as a private metaphor for echolocation. At different moments in the piece, the Waterphone is bowed, quietly calling out through the orchestra. A melody (the central musical theme of the ballet) responds, and the conversation between these two spurs along the emotional arc and narrative of the piece. This idea of echolocation translated into Schreier’s breathtaking choreography. Throughout the ballet, two lead female leads circle each other in shifting systems of power, navigating their relationships to the world around them and to one another, their choreography echoing back and forth. 

San Francisco Ballet in Schreier’s Kin // © Lindsay Thomas

CREDITS: 

“Kin” Photography © Lindsay Thomas (@lindsaythomasphoto). Photos courtesy of the San Francisco Ballet. Pictured: Dores André / WanTing Zhao / Aaron Robison / Isaac Hernández / Adrian Zeisel / Andris Kundzins / Ellen Rose Hummel / Isabella DeVivo / João Percilio da Silva / Lucas Erni / Mingxuan Wang / Norika Matsuyama / Olivia Brothers / Pemberley Ann Olson / Samantha Bristow / Steven Morse

These central ideas feel very appropriate to the theme of the Louisville Orchestra’s “Lasting Legacies” concerts. On October 13th and 14th, the LO will play an excerpt of “Kin” as a part of these concerts. Given its role in the score, I have asked if we can use the Waterphone, which I have just purchased for the concerts, and I have my fingers crossed that this little bit of Louisville history will make it back onto the stage.  

DESCRIPTION: I try my hand at playing the Waterphone.

The “Lasting Legacies” concerts feature incredible works by my fellow Creators, Nkeiru Okoye and Alex Berko, as well as a beautiful piano concert by Gabriel Kahane played by Jeffrey Kahane, and a wonderful piece by John Adams—all conducted by Maestro Teddy Abrams and executed by your Louisville Orchestra. 

CONCERTS: 

Coffee Concert: Lasting Legacies
October 13 @ 11:00am
Whitney Concert Hall

NiteLites Concert: Lasting Legacies
October 13 @ 7:30 pm
Ogle Center

Classics Concert: Lasting Legacies
October 13 @ 7:30pm
Whitney Concert Hall

Read LOCC Blog  Meet LOCC Creators

LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES SUMMER AND SPRING BREAK PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIP-HOP N2 LEARNING

Media Contact:
Contact Randy Blevins
502-897-0649 | randy@thinktanklou.com

For Immediate Release:
March 2, 2023

LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES SUMMER
AND SPRING BREAK PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH IN
PARTNERSHIP WITH HIP-HOP N2 LEARNING

Hip-Hop N2 Learning / The LO Rap School Summer Camp
June 5 – June 9, 2023 | Registration open now!

Louisville, KY – Graham Parker, Today, Hip-Hop N2 Learning (HHN2L) along with
the Louisville Orchestra and Music Director Teddy Abrams, announced the
expansion of the organization’s partnership thanks to the $500,000 Accelerator
Award HHN2L received in December from The Lewis Prize for Music. This expansion
will include summer and spring break programs for 30 to 40 youth in 5th-12th grade
through the LO’s Rap School happening June 5 – June 9, 2023 from 9am to 3pm.
There is no charge to participate in these programs. Registration for the HHN2L and
The LO Rap School is open now at the following link:
https://forms.gle/VHn3MdYFns8VtfB98.

The LO Rap School was envisioned by Teddy Abrams and Jecorey (1200) Arthur and
premiered in 2019 to partner youth with the Louisville Orchestra in the fight for racial
equity through performance and advocacy. The program allows youth to reimagine
artistic performance and offers students the opportunity to rap with the Louisville
Orchestra at the annual MakingMUSIC education concerts.

In 2021 The Louisville Orchestra began its partnership with hip-hop based education
organization HHN2L to grow The LO Rap School by offering lessons to students
through a series of workshops. These workshops connect students with local social
justice educators, hip-hop artists, and musicians to supply students with resources as
they create rap lyrics that are then performed live on stage with the full orchestra.
Through the LO Rap School, local students from all levels are introduced to a variety
of additional programs led by HHN2L founders Nyree Clayton-Taylor and Antonio
“T” Taylor — all which focus on creating, producing, and performing music that
promotes social justice and community activism.

“This new and expanded relationship between the Louisville Orchestra and Hip-Hop
N2 Learning is undoubtedly one of the most meaningful partnerships we have
created,” says Graham Parker, Chief Executive for The Louisville Orchestra. “Working
with young students to unleash their full potential, expressing powerful messages of
change through writing and performing with the LO, is what is needed in society.
These Young Prodigies are our future.”

In December, HHN2L received a $500,000 Accelerator Award from the Lewis Prize for
Music supporting continued and new efforts to make sustained progress toward
community change. Because of this award, HHN2L has the necessary support to
elevate and expand existing programs. This includes the collaboration with The
Louisville Orchestra and The LO Rap school to uplift their creative impact in the
music industry. The new summer camp will provide opportunities to learn about
music fundamentals, music production, and real life operations in the music
industry.

# # #

About Hip Hop Into Learning:
Hip Hop Based Education (HHBE) provides new avenues for learning, predicated on
self-awareness, expression, and critical thought. While nested in the constructs of critical
theory, culturally relevant pedagogy, and self-awareness. HHBE is a relevant theory that seeks
to bridge culturally relevant teaching to the classroom. Programs of HHN2L include The Real
Young Prodigys, the LO Rap School in partnership with The Louisville Orchestra, TRAP Camp
(Teaching Respect About our Planet), and Pens Up, Bars Down (PUBD) using music to stop
violence in our community and heal student who suffer.

About The Louisville Orchestra:
Established in 1937 through the combined efforts of Louisville mayor Charles Farnsley and
conductor Robert Whitney, the Louisville Orchestra is a cornerstone of the Louisville arts
community. With the launch of First Edition Recordings in 1947, it became the first American
orchestra to own a recording label. Six years later it received a Rockefeller grant of $500,000
to commission, record, and premiere music by living composers, thereby earning a place on
the international circuit. In 2001, the Louisville Orchestra received the Leonard Bernstein
Award for Excellence in Educational Programming, presented annually to a North American
orchestra. Continuing its commitment to new music, the Louisville Orchestra has earned 19
ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and was also awarded
large grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the National Endowment for the
Arts, both for the purpose of producing, manufacturing and marketing its historic First
Edition Recordings collections. Over the years, the orchestra has performed for prestigious
events at the White House, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and on tour in Mexico City, and
their last two albums for the Decca Gold label, All In (2017) and The Order of Nature (2019) –
the latter launched with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – both
topped the Billboard Classical and Crossover charts. The feature-length, Gramophone Awardwinning
documentary Music Makes a City (2010) chronicles the Louisville Orchestra’s
founding years, and, in spring 2018, Teddy Abrams and

Louisville Orchestra Kentucky Tour and Mammoth Cave Press Releases

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

 Louisville Orchestra Hits the Road, Connects Kentuckians Through Music

“In Harmony – The Commonwealth Tour of the Louisville Orchestra” to include performances across state with Kentucky natives, including Tessa Lark and Chris Thile;
LO also announces spring residency with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma

LOUISVILLE, KY. (Jan. 18, 2023) – The Louisville Orchestra announced today that it will embark upon a two-year musical journey across Kentucky beginning in May, playing for audiences throughout the Commonwealth as part of “In Harmony – The Commonwealth Tour of the Louisville Orchestra.” These concerts will include full orchestra performances as well as bring orchestra musicians for intimate, collaborative engagements in schools, community centers, and libraries in dozens of communities.

“With the ‘In Harmony’ tour, the Louisville Orchestra becomes the only orchestra in the United States committed to traveling to every corner of its state to partner in performance with artists across our communities,” Music Director Teddy Abrams said. “There is no so-called urban-rural divide in music. Art and music transcend geographic boundaries. We couldn’t be more excited to share our treasured work with our fellow Kentuckians in their hometowns and home counties.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a fervent supporter of the arts, applauded the Louisville Orchestra’s drive to connect with its neighbors throughout the Commonwealth.

“I commend the Louisville Orchestra for bringing these experiences to communities across Kentucky, ensuring all of our people have access to these performances which can bring joy, comfort and inspiration,” said Beshear. “When we work together for the greater good, we can accomplish some pretty incredible things and the Louisville Orchestra is leading by example.”

“In Harmony” Tour to Reach Across Kentucky

The Louisville Orchestra will kick off the tour in eastern Kentucky on May 17, 18, and 19 with performances in Prestonsburg, Pikeville, and Harlan respectively. During that week, Kentucky-born and raised violinist Tessa Lark joins the orchestra to showcase cornerstones of the traditional repertoire, along with arrangements of famous Kentucky fiddle tunes.

The weeks of July 3 and July 10, the orchestra travels for performances in Glasgow, Covington, Bowling Green, Ashland, and Bardstown. On this program, Abrams will both conduct and be a piano soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The concert will highlight both the Commonwealth’s musical legacy and traditional American tunes.

In September, the orchestra welcomes the singular mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, who was raised in Murray. These concerts will include performances in Henderson, Owensboro, and Madisonville. During these concerts, Thile will perform the Kentucky debut of his Mandolin Concerto, a showcase for his vocal and finger-picking talents.

The tour will conclude in late February and early March 2024 with stops in Danville, Frankfort, Georgetown, and Fort Knox.  The dates and venues for each stop on the tour will be announced soon.

“This tour is a mark of things to come from the Louisville Orchestra,” said Graham Parker, the Louisville Orchestra’s Chief Executive. “We are a community-centric orchestra, striving to foster artist-driven civic leadership and cultural well-being throughout the Commonwealth. Meeting people where they are is a key part of bringing people into the arts, and that is what we hope to accomplish through this statewide tour.”

The tour was made possible through a budget appropriation from the Kentucky state legislature, a huge win for the arts in the Commonwealth.

A Musical Resource to Bring Communities Together

From the very outset of discussions with Sen. Robert Stivers (R-25), President of the Kentucky Senate, and Rep. David Osborne (R-59) Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, it was clear that by using the musical resources of the Louisville Orchestra, communities, regions, and partners could be brought together to experience a shared togetherness that only music can provide.

“My mother instilled an appreciation for many genres of music in me from a very young age. Mom saw the value of music as one that develops critical thinking skills and expands perceptions,” said Senate President Robert Stivers. “When presented with the opportunity to support this outreach for those who might not otherwise have access across this beautiful state, I had to say yes to the full experience.”

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for Kentuckians of all ages to come together and celebrate the music of the Louisville Orchestra. I am pleased that we were able to make the necessary funding possible and look forward to seeing this investment reach communities throughout the Commonwealth,” Osborne said. “Without a doubt, the Louisville Orchestra is engrained in our state’s cultural legacy. For more than eight decades it has made world-class performances accessible and served as a model for performing arts programs throughout the nation.”

In each community the Louisville Orchestra will serve, there will be proactive and meaningful outreach to work with schools, libraries, and community centers to introduce music and the musicians, and where possible to make music together with local musicians steeped in the traditions of the region. Free, full orchestra concerts in the evenings will showcase local talents, together with orchestra members and special guests, showing what bonds exist and what bridges are possible.

“We can’t thank our elected officials enough for their critical support of our organization and for the arts as a whole,” Parker said. “What started as a dream – to tour our beloved Commonwealth and share our music with its people – is now a reality, thanks to our legislature.”

Orchestra Season Includes Residency with Yo-Yo Ma, Performance in Mammoth Cave

Before the Louisville Orchestra sets out on its journey, famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma will enter a five-day immersive residency with the Louisville Orchestra, including a once-in-a-lifetime performance within the caverns of Mammoth Cave.

Yo-Yo Ma will join Abrams and the full orchestra for a performance including Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at the Kentucky Center’s Whitney Hall on April 27. The performance will be preceded by a gala. The concerts at Mammoth Cave on April 29 will feature music composed by Abrams featuring members of the Louisville Orchestra, the Louisville Chamber Choir, a solo percussionist, and Yo-Yo Ma.

“Visitors have always been drawn to Mammoth Cave to experience its ancient stillness and expansiveness,” said Abrams. “It’s no surprise that this otherworldly treasure has inspired art of all forms, some of which can still be seen in the cave. Performing music in a cave where untold generations of people before us have created their own music connects us in a vital way to our past.”

“We are thrilled to offer this amazing opportunity to experience the sounds of Yo-Yo Ma and the Louisville Orchestra inside Mammoth Cave,” said Park Superintendent Barclay Trimble. “Music is universally loved and recognized as a way to connect and bring people together. Mammoth Cave has been a source of artistic inspiration for thousands of years and now through a composition created by Teddy Abrams and historic performance by Yo-Yo Ma, we can add another fantastic musical moment to the cave’s history.”

Yo-Yo Ma and the Louisville Orchestra will perform at Rafinesque Hall inside Mammoth Cave on Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 11 am and 3 pm CDT. Tickets for the event will be distributed by lottery through Recreation.gov and people may apply for a chance at tickets beginning Monday, January 30.  The lottery closes at 10 am on February 5.

###

About the Louisville Orchestra 

The Louisville Orchestra was created in 1937 and sprung up in a time of need, just after the great flood and in the wake of the depression. Robert Whitney was invited to conduct the newly established orchestra, known then as the Louisville Philharmonic, and arrived from Chicago that same year. In its formation, the goal was to create a new model for the American symphony orchestra, as it was conceived through an ambitious effort that emphasized innovation through the commissioning, performance, and recording of new works by contemporary composers. The Louisville Orchestra garnered international critical acclaim, became the first orchestra to establish a record label, and cemented a place in history for its contribution to contemporary classical music. In its first two decades, the Louisville Orchestra commissioned/recorded up to 52 new works annually and ultimately created 150 vinyl recordings (LPs) of more than 450 works.

The Louisville Orchestra continues to be recognized as a cornerstone of the Louisville performing arts community. Music Director Teddy Abrams has helmed the Louisville Orchestra since 2014, and the Louisville Orchestra has returned to its origins of commissioning new music and recording, having released two albums under the prestigious Decca Gold label. A wide variety of immersive and innovative concert performances and educational programming continue to receive national attention. Recent press coverage includes articles and mentions in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and CBS Sunday Morning. Accolades include three invitations to perform at Carnegie Hall; the Leonard Bernstein Award for Excellence in Educational Programming; the League of American Orchestras 2019 Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service; and 19 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) awards for adventurous programming in use of contemporary music.

Media Contacts:                                               

Jenny Recktenwald                               Quin Welch
jrecktenwald@c2strategic.com            qwelch@c2strategic.com
(502) 994-9167                                      (859) 388-0510

Teddy Abrams and Members of the Louisville Orchestra to Perform in Mammoth Cave with Special Guest Yo-Yo Ma (April 29)

Rafinesque Hall at Mammoth Cave National Park – Courtesy of National Park Service

“A pioneering force in new music.”

— Billboard on the Louisville Orchestra

(January 18, 2023)—One of the world’s most awe-inspiring natural wonders will serve as the setting for a once-in-a-lifetime performance as Music Director and Musical America 2022 Conductor of the Year Teddy Abrams, members of the Louisville Orchestra (LO), bass-baritone Davóne Tines, the Louisville Chamber Choir, and solo percussionist join forces with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, directed by Zack Winokur.

Two immersive concerts to be held inside the cave on April 29 will feature a site-specific composition by Abrams inspired by the environment in which it will be performed. Tickets for the performances, taking place at 11 am and 3 pm CDT, will be distributed by a lottery process through www.recreation.gov beginning Monday, January 30. More information about the events can be found here.

Over the past year, Abrams explored Mammoth Cave National Park—the longest-known cave system in the world—and immersed himself in the cave’s geology and history, specifically focusing on the origins of the cave, the people who have lived and worked in it, and the stories they have told. Abrams explains:

“These performances are an homage to and celebration of this remarkable place, its history, and its people. Visitors have always been drawn to Mammoth Cave to experience its ancient stillness and expansiveness. It’s no surprise that this otherworldly treasure has inspired art in all forms, some of which can still be seen in the cave. Performing music in a cave where untold generations of people before us have created their own music connects us in a vital way to our past.

The genesis of this project came about during a conversation between Abrams and Yo-Yo Ma in preparation for a podcast interview that Abrams conducted with Yo-Yo in 2020.  Yo-Yo mentioned his admiration of the documentary featuring a concert at Crater Lake National Park, which Abrams had conducted.  Yo-Yo then shared the idea behind his national parks project – Our Common Nature. That conversation led hatched the idea for a concert in Mammoth Cave.  Abrams composed his work with Yo-Yo Ma in mind—to be performed in the environment of a large open passageway inside the cave known as Rafinesque Hall. He explains:

“My work will position Yo-Yo Ma in the role of spiritual guide, twinned with the voice of Davóne and using a complement of vocalists and musicians from the Orchestra to bring the interdependent natural, human, and mythological stories of Mammoth Cave to life. The inspiration for this work is the interlinking of nature and humanity—the role caves play in our collective imagination and storytelling. From ancient mythology to modern fiction, caves have represented archetypical wonder and terror, symbolized the unknown, and served as the setting for our contemplation of the borders of life, death, and the great beyond.”

Louisville Orchestra Chief Executive Graham Parker adds:

“This once-in-a-lifetime performance represents more than a collaboration between Teddy Abrams the Louisville Orchestra, and the great Yo-Yo Ma; equally important to the collaboration is the mystical splendor of one of the world’s most astounding natural wonders. We are also bringing attention to Mammoth Cave as part of the broader mission of the Louisville Orchestra to serve the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky, from its vibrant cities and small towns to its glorious natural resources.”

Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Barclay Trimble says:

“We are thrilled to offer this amazing opportunity to experience the sounds of Yo-Yo Ma and the Louisville Orchestra inside Mammoth Cave. Music is universally loved and recognized as a way to connect and bring people together. Mammoth Cave has been a source of artistic inspiration for thousands of years—and now through a composition created by Teddy Abrams and a historic performance by Yo-Yo Ma, we can add another fantastic musical moment to the cave’s history.”

Zack Winokur will serve as director for the performances. With his work recently being described as “pure poetry” (The Boston Globe) and “my favorite theatrical experience of the last decade” (The New York Times), Winokur is recognized as one of the most innovative and exciting talents working in opera today. He co-founded the American Modern Opera Company, an ensemble of singers, musicians, and dancers committed to creating a body of new, discipline-colliding music-theater works. Winokur explains:

“In the process of creating this piece I have gotten to know people with deep history in these caves and surrounding lands, connecting with their generational stories of curiosity and discovery. I have been inspired by the work of the park guides and am excited to work with the properties of the cave—the pure blackout where you’re left with only your heartbeat, the cacophonous echoes of sound, the sensitivity of a pin dropping, the one light in the dark that can form a glow for us all to gather around—as we transform the stories of the cave into theater.”

Tickets for the performances will be distributed via a lottery system to give all interested visitors an equal opportunity to attend these limited events. The lottery will be open from Monday, January 30 to Monday, February 6 at www.recreation.gov. Only one application per email address is accepted, and each application may request up to 4 tickets. Performances are open to all ages, but youths under the age of 16 years must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older. All lottery applicants will be charged a $1.00 application fee, but there is no fee for tickets to the events.

Rafinesque Hall, the area of the cave where the performances will take place, is a natural environment, with low lighting and a temperature of around 54ºF (12ºC). There is no seating in the hall, and the performances will last approximately one hour. The performers will be utilizing different zones in the cave and audience members will be encouraged to move around the performance space to experience the aural and visual contrasts as the elements of the composition evolve. Audience members must walk 0.75 miles (1.2 km) round trip to reach the performance area. The access trail includes a steep outdoor hillside to and from the cave’s natural entrance with a total of 130 stairs. Inside the cave, the trail will travel along broad walkways in some of the largest rooms inside Mammoth Cave. The trail is mostly level, but some hilly and uneven areas exist.

About Yo-Yo Ma

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s life and career are testaments to his enduring belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, where he began studying the cello with his father at age four. When he was seven, he moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard.

Yo-Yo has recorded more than 100 albums, is the winner of 19 Grammy Awards, and has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize. He has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2006 and was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

Yo-Yo’s latest album is “Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastorale’ and Op. 1, No. 3,” recorded with pianist Emanual Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.

About the Louisville Orchestra

Established in 1937 through the combined efforts of Louisville mayor Charles Farnsley and conductor Robert Whitney, the Louisville Orchestra is a cornerstone of the Louisville arts community. With the launch of First Edition Recordings in 1947, it became the first American orchestra to own a recording label. Six years later it received a Rockefeller grant of $500,000 to commission, record and premiere music by living composers, thereby earning a place on the international circuit. In 2001, the Louisville Orchestra received the Leonard Bernstein Award for Excellence in Educational Programming, presented annually to a North American orchestra. Continuing its commitment to new music, the Louisville Orchestra has earned 19 ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music and was also awarded large grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the National Endowment for the Arts, both for the purpose of producing, manufacturing, and marketing its historic First Edition Recordings collections. Over the years, the orchestra has performed for prestigious events at the White House, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and on tour in Mexico City, and their last two albums for the Decca Gold label, All In (2017) and The Order of Nature (2019)—the latter launched with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon—both topped the Billboard Classical and Crossover charts. The feature-length, Gramophone Award-winning documentary Music Makes a City (2010) chronicles the Louisville Orchestra’s founding years, and in spring 2018, Teddy Abrams and the orchestra were profiled on the popular television program CBS Sunday Morning.

About Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave National Park is a park on two levels—52,830 acres of reclaimed hardwood forest and winding riverways, and below it, the longest-known cave system in the world, surveyed at 428 miles to date. The park preserves evidence of prehistoric indigenous people at Mammoth Cave from between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago and evidence of modern humans who rediscovered the cave around 1800. These modern settlers left behind more than 200 years of artifacts from the early days of saltpeter mining operations, science/health experiments, cave tour activities, and historic structures that were built in the development of the park as a tourist destination and national park. Music has been an important part of Mammoth Cave’s over 200-year modern history with classical musicians, choirs and contemporary artists composing and often performing their music inside the cave. Located within a day’s drive of several major population centers, Mammoth Cave National Park offers camping, hiking, horseback riding, bicycling, canoeing, picnicking, and cave tours. The park was established as a national park in 1941, designated a World Heritage Site in 1981, an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990, and certified as a Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association in 2021.

High-resolution photos are available here.

www.louisvilleorchestra.org
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Louisville-Orchestra
twitter.com/louorch
www.nps.gov/maca

Media Contacts:
Jenny Recktenwald                                      Quin Welch
jrecktenwald@c2strategic.com                   qwelch@c2strategic.com
(502) 994-9167                                             (859) 388-0510

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Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps

Long praised for visionary thinking about the role of an orchestra in its community, in its 2022 – 2023 season The Louisville Orchestra began its Creators Corps program.

Since its founding, the Louisville Orchestra has had a historic and unrivaled commitment to supporting and sustaining living composers and contemporary music. In 1937, the LO board chairman (and later Louisville’s mayor) Charles Farnsley and Robert Whitney, the LO’s founding Music Director and conductor, conceived an adventurous plan: To make the commissioning, performance, and recording of new works a centerpiece of the LO’s global mission. Between 1950 and 1992, the Louisville Orchestra commissioned and recorded up to 52 new compositions from composers worldwide, releasing nearly 150 LPs on its First Edition Records label of more than 450 works by living composers.

Conceived as a successor project to First Edition Records, the Creators Corps also represents a giant leap forward. The initiative asks the three invited creators to act as artist-leaders, developing meaningful relationships with neighborhood residents and embodying the orchestra’s conviction that music is a fundamental part of civic life.

The Creators Corps, a first-of-its-kind program that deeply integrates artists in the city of Louisville and with the orchestra, selects three Creators each year to move to Louisville for the upcoming season and live in the Shelby Park neighborhood for at least 30 weeks. The Creators serve as LO staff members, receiving an annual salary, health insurance, housing, and custom-built studio workspaces. Throughout their residencies, the Creators compose new works to be performed by the orchestra, participate in educational and community engagement activities, and become active, engaged citizens of Louisville.

The Creators Corps program has been funded by a three-year, $750,000 grant from The Mellon Foundation and from the generous support of additional individual donors locally and nationally.

Teddy and the LOCC 2022 – 2023

Creators Luncheon and Introduction

Classics 1 rehearsal 2022

Creator camaraderie!

TJ Cole – Creator as soloist

Lisa Bielawa – another soloist!

Lisa Bielawa – it’s going well..!

Tyler Taylor examining his score

Bielawa’s Louisville Broadcast

Creators Corps participants have been chosen for the 2023 – 2024 and 2024 – 2025 Season. They are:

2023 – 2024 CrEators Corps

Alex Berko                                                                      Learn More

Nkeiru Okoye                                                                 Learn More

Tanner Porter                                                                 Learn More

2024 – 2025 creators corps

Baldwin Giang                                                               Learn More

Brittany Green                                                               Learn More

Oswald Huỳnh                                                              Learn More

Important Dates

• September 1, 2023: Residency period begins for 2023-24 cohort
• July 1, 2024: Residency period begins for 2024-25 cohort

For questions, please get in touch with Jacob Gotlib, Creators Corps Program Manager, at jgotlib@louisvilleorchestra.org or call 502.587.8681.

Click Here for more information and HOW to apply for the Creators Corps of 2025 – 2026

Meet the Creators

Teddy Abrams & Louisville Orchestra Announce Inaugural Group of Composers for New “Creators Corps” Residency Program Beginning Sep 1

“If we’re relying on the younger generation to help boost interest in classical music, look no further than Teddy Abrams.” — NPR Music
“A genre-defying orchestra in Louisville? Believe it.” — Time magazine

 (July 2022)—Long praised for visionary thinking about the role of an orchestra in its community, galvanizing Music Director Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra (LO) are pleased to announce the inaugural group of creators for their newest initiative, the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps, which transcends traditional commissioning and composer-in-residence paradigms with a radically new model for collaborating with symphony orchestras in the 21st century. The selected creators are Lisa Bielawa, TJ Cole, and Tyler Taylor. Abrams, who was named Conductor of the Year for 2022 by Musical America and begins his eighth season with the orchestra in September, explains:

“I was overwhelmed by the diverse talent of the 186 applicants for the initial year of the LO’s Creators Corps. I believe this reflects the widespread desire for artists to build deeper and more impactful relationships with civic institutions and the communities they represent. With an extraordinarily dedicated selection committee, we were able to find three exceptional creators to join us in Louisville for the 2022-23 Season. Lisa, TJ, and Tyler are examples of consummate 21st-century artist-leaders; their musical talents match their intellects and they all share a remarkable sensitivity to the needs of the world beyond the boundaries of contemporary musical composition. While each creator has a unique background and aesthetic perspective, their collective accomplishments and capabilities will make them a tremendous part of the LO family and the creative fabric of Louisville (and in Tyler’s case, as a Louisvillian, we are honored to offer him the Orchestra’s broad civic platform). This is an historic and immensely consequential moment for the LO, and I can’t wait to begin collaborating with these three outstanding creators.”

Graham Parker, the Louisville Orchestra’s Interim Executive Director, adds:

“The Creators Corps marks a new chapter for innovation and leadership for the Louisville Orchestra, and I am proud that we are demonstrating the most impactful way composers, community leaders, musicians, and civic partners can come together to fundamentally change the conversation around creativity, the creative process, access to and impact from the arts. The entire LO family is dedicated to delivering on this new model and showcasing it across Metro Louisville, the Commonwealth, and the country.”

The Creators Corps, an innovative first-of-its-kind program that puts artists in the community for deeper integration with the orchestra and the city of Louisville, selects three creators in the spring to move to Louisville for the upcoming season and live in the Shelby neighborhood for at least 30 weeks, serving as LO staff members with an annual salary of $40,000, health insurance, housing, and a custom-built studio workspace. Throughout their residencies, the creators will compose new works to be performed by the orchestra and/or in other settings, participate in educational and community engagement activities, and be active, engaged citizens of their neighborhood. The three selected creators will each have a preexisting work performed on the opening night program on September 17. The world premieres of their new works will be performed in Louisville during the 2022/23 season on Classics programs on January 14, March 4, and March 11 – the latter two dates as part of the Festival of American Music – and will appear as well on Music Without Borders programs.

The Creators Corps program has been funded by a three-year, $750,000 grant from The Mellon Foundation and from the generous support of additional individual donors locally and nationally.

About the Creators Corps Composers          

Lisa Bielawa

Composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa is a Rome Prize winner in musical composition. She takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. Gramophone reports, “Bielawa is gaining gale force as a composer, churning out impeccably groomed works that at once evoke the layered precision of Vermeer and the conscious recklessness of Jackson Pollock.” Her music has been described as “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart,” by the New York Times, and “fluid and arresting … at once dramatic and probing,” by the San Francisco Chronicle. She is the recipient of the 2017 Music Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and a 2020 OPERA America Grant for Female Composers. She was named a William Randolph Hearst Visiting Artist Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society for 2018 and was Artist-in-Residence at Kaufman Music Center in New York for the 2020-2021 season.

Bielawa has established herself as one of today’s leading composers and performers, one who consistently executes work that incorporates community-making as part of her artistic vision. She has created music for public spaces in Lower Manhattan, the banks of the Tiber River in Rome, on the sites of former airfields in Berlin and in San Francisco, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; she composed and produced a twelve-episode, made-for-TV opera that featured over 350 musicians and was filmed in locations across the country; she was a co-founder in 1997 of the MATA Festival, which continues to support young composers; and for five years she was the artistic director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, bringing the chorus to the NY PHIL BIENNIAL and introducing the young performers to the music of today through numerous premieres and commissions from leading composers. From 2019-2022, Bielawa was the founding Composer-in-Residence and Chief Curator of the Philip Glass Institute (PGI) at The New School’s College of the Performing Arts.

In addition to performing as the vocalist in the Philip Glass Ensemble, Bielawa performs in many of her own works as well as in the music of John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Michael Gordon, and others. She will have her third residency as a performer/composer at Zorn’s venue The Stone in November 2022. She recently made her orchestral conducting debut leading the Mannes String Orchestra in a special presentation by the Philip Glass Institute, featuring her music, music by Jon Gibson and David T. Little, and Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 3.

Born in San Francisco into a musical family, Lisa Bielawa played the violin and piano, sang, and wrote music from early childhood. She moved to New York two weeks after receiving her B.A. in Literature in 1990 from Yale University and became an active participant in New York musical life.

TJ Cole

TJ Cole (they/she) is an American composer, originally from the suburbs of Atlanta. They have been commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Nashville in Harmony, Intersection, Time For Three, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Play On Philly, the Music in May Festival, Music in the Vineyards, the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, One Book One Philadelphia, and the Bakken Trio, among others.

​Their music has been performed by various ensembles, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, Ensemble Connect, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, the Dover Quartet, the Bakken Trio, and the Nebula Ensemble, among others. They have also worked on numerous projects with Time for Three as an orchestrator and arranger, and served as a composer-in-residence at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2014.

TJ has also been a singer-songwriter, producer, and engineer in the fully electronic synth-pop band Twin Pixie, which focuses on making music at the intersection of queerness, pop culture, and the supernatural.

TJ has participated in composition programs including the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and the Next Festival of Emerging Artists, and studied with Samuel Adler for a summer at the Freie Universität Berlin. They have won two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer awards (2014 and 2020), including the Leo Kaplan Award in 2020 for their string sextet ‘Playtime’.

​TJ has also been involved with music-related community outreach projects. They collaborated with bassist Ranaan Meyer as an orchestrator on his project The World We All Deserve Through Music, and with First Person Arts by co-curating and performing in a musical story slam. During a yearlong ArtistYear Fellowship (2016-17), TJ was able to co-run and collaborate in musical performances and songwriting workshops with residents of Project HOME, a Philadelphia-based organization fighting to end chronic homelessness.

​TJ received their Bachelor’s degree in composition from the Curtis Institute of Music, and studied at Interlochen Arts Academy. Their mentors include John Boyle Jr., Jennifer Higdon, David Ludwig, and Richard Danielpour.

​

Tyler Taylor

Tyler Taylor, a Louisville native, is a composer-performer whose work explores the different ways identity can be expressed in musical scenarios. Common among these pieces is a sense of contradiction – sometimes whimsical, sometimes alarming – that comes from the interaction of diverse musical layers. This expression of contradiction likely comes from his being a person of mixed race; being raised on hip hop and R&B while inheriting a European tradition of Western art music as his primary form of musical expression in spite of having little or no other cultural ties to Europe; and pursuing a career in a field that generally lacks representation of his demographic.

Tyler has recently held fellowships at the National Orchestra Institute and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. During these residencies, he had several works performed, including two premieres, and worked alongside Marin Alsop, Derek Bermel, Andreia Pinto Correia, and many other distinguished artists. His work has been recognized by awards including the BMI Student Composition Award (2019) and the Howard Hanson Ensemble Prize (2017, 2016), and has been featured during the College Orchestra Directors Association Convention (2022), the University of Louisville Annual New Music Festival (2018, 2017, 2016) and the Midwest Composers Symposium (2019). He has recently been commissioned by the Washington and Lee University Orchestra, the Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Contemporary Ensemble, the Youth Performing Arts School, the Louisville Orchestra, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, and the Indiana Bandmasters Association.

In addition to his composition, Tyler is an avid performer of contemporary music, playing horn in many of his own works and those by his colleagues. He has honed his skill as a contemporary performer in groups such as the IU New Music Ensemble, Eastman’s Musica Nova, Ossia New Music, the University of Louisville New Music Ensemble, and more.

Tyler holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Doctor of Music in Composition, with minors in music theory and horn performance), the Eastman School of Music (Master of Music in Composition and Horn), and the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music in Composition). His principal composition teachers include Tansy Davies, Aaron Travers, Don Freund, David Liptak, Robert Morris, Krzysztof Wołek, and Steve Rouse. His principal horn teachers include  Emily Britton, Dale Clevenger, Jeff Nelsen, W. Peter Kurau, Bruce Heim, Steve Causey, and Diana Morgen.

Creators Corps Works in 2022-23 Classics Season

Sep 17
“Swing, Swagger and Sway”
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Tessa Lark, violin
Wynton MARSALIS: Violin Concerto in D
Tyler TAYLOR: Facades
Lisa BIELAWA: Drama/Self-Pity
TJ COLE: Megalopolis
STRAVINSKY: Symphony in Three Movements

Jan 14
“Fifths Of Beethoven”
Teddy Abrams, conductor & piano
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
World premiere commissioned from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5

March 4
“Festival Of American Music: Journeys of Faith”
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Louisville Chamber Choir
World premiere commissioned from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps
Olga NEUWIRTH: Masaot/Clocks Without Hands
BERNSTEIN: Symphony No. 3, “Kaddish”

March 11
“Festival Of American Music: The Literary Influence”
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Sebastian Chang, piano
Joel THOMPSON: To Awaken the Sleeper
World premiere commissioned from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps
BERNSTEIN: Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”

LO is on the move… literally!

2022-23 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT

A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM TEDDY ABRAMS

LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2022-23 SEASON CONCERTS NOW ON SALE
Highlights include world premiere works by the new Creators Corps, Beethoven’s Fifth, and a performance by Broadway star KELLI O’HARA

(Louisville KY… Apr 19, 2022)  Now in its ninth season under the dynamic and inspiring leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams, the Louisville Orchestra is proud to announce a season of creativity in 2022-23.  Highlights of the season include new works by composers from the newly launched Creators Corps, the eighth annual Festival of American Music featuring works by the American cultural hero Leonard Bernstein, premieres and commissioned works by important voices of today’s composers including the 2021 Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Olga Neuwirth, acclaimed composers Joel Thompson, Thomas Adés, Mason Bates and Christopher Cerrone. Teddy Abrams performs as pianist and conductor for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto in a program where he also conducts Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, plus performances by Avery Fisher Career Grant winner TESSA LARK and a long-awaited return to the stage of the momentous Symphony No. 7 by Anton Bruckner will engage the classical music lovers of Louisville. Headlining the Pops Series is Grammy Award-winning Broadway and Hollywood star KELLI O’HARA. Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt has lined up a season packed with entertainment including vintage films with some of the finest music scores are on display; the exceptional voice of CAPATHIA JENKINS in “Aretha: A Tribute,” and the Emmy-Award winning vocal group THE TEXAS TENORS who have amassed a huge fan base worldwide.

5 Different Concert Series

Each year the Louisville Orchestra plays a wide array of public, education, and outreach performances. With more than 100 performances annually by the orchestra or its ensembles, the LO is central to life in Louisville. We announce programs and dates for five different concert series for the 2022-23 Season that are currently available for sale with discounted multi-concert subscription packages available to the public. Complete programming and descriptions of individual concerts are available at www.LouisvilleOrchestra.org.

CLASSICS SERIES – A 9-concert series created by Music Director Teddy Abrams, the Classics Series presents an inspiring slate of exceptional music featuring the annual FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN MUSIC, a concert with Teddy at the piano performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto plus conducting Beethoven’s Fifth, and the massive grand finale of the Symphony No. 7 by Anton Bruckner – a piece that’s been missing from our programs for over 20 years. The newly launched Creators Corps will have new works premiered at concerts starting in January 2023. The Creators Corps is a unique residency program that brings three composers to live and work in Louisville as a way to enhance our thriving creative community with music that is made in our city for our citizens. Acclaimed guest performers on the Classics Series include violinist TESSA LARK, LO’s own principal horn JON GUSTELY, piano virtuosos TIMO ANDRES and SEBASTIAN CHANG, rising star violinist ALEXI KENNEY, and baritone DASHON BURTON. 9-concert packages from $207. 5-concert packages from $130. That’s $26 per concert!

POPS SERIES – Six concert series under the direction of Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt. Opening with a performance by KELLI O’HARA, and featuring a tribute concert to Aretha Franklin, our traditional Holiday Pops, a look back at the music of the 80s, and closing with the massively entertaining TEXAS TENORS. 6-concert packages from $156.

COFFEE SERIES – Six-concert matinee series offering a sampling of the music from the Classics Series. Concerts are presented on Fridays at 11AM at the Kentucky Center. 6-concert packages from $108.

FAMILY SERIES — Three-concert series presented at Old Forester’s Paristown Hall (NEW location). Programs are centered on storytelling and music to entertain and educate children ages 4 to 12 years. Affordable and fun! 3-concerts for $42 (adult) and $27 (child)

NIGHTLITES at the Ogle – Four-concert series presented at the Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany. Popular classical music prices at $90 for all 4 events.

LINK TO VIEW OUR 2022-23 SEASON and SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS

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