Teddy Abrams and Louisville Orchestra present Carmina Burana and Tilson Thomas’s Meditations on Rilke; fall highlights also include works by Creators Corps, Ray Chen in Barber concerto, and Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra

(September 2024) — Following a residency in western Kentucky conducted by concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz that marks the latest leg of the “In Harmony” statewide tour (Sep 24–26), the Louisville Orchestra (LO) and Grammy-winning Music Director Teddy Abrams look forward to a full calendar of Louisville performances in the fall. Opening the season is a performance of Holst’s The Planets paired with soloist David Fray in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and Milhaud’s Kentuckiana, under the baton of dynamic young Chilean Italian conductor Paolo Bortolameolli (Sep 14). Abrams takes the podium in October for Orff’s thunderous cantata Carmina Burana, sung by the Louisville Chamber Choir, along with Michael Tilson Thomas’s Meditations on Rilke(Oct 19). Fall highlights include soloist Ray Chen performing Barber’s Violin Concerto, Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra, and a first opportunity to hear works from the latest class of Creators Corps composers (Nov 15 & 16).

Other season highlights include Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with soloist Midori along with Strauss’s monumental An Alpine Symphony (Jan 17 & 18); a staged production of Viktor Ullmann’s one-act chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Jan 25); and the second annual Creators Fest, with Abrams leading world premieres from each of the three participants in the newest incarnation of the Louisville Orchestra’s groundbreaking Creators Corps initiative – Baldwin Giang, Brittany J. Green and Oswald Huỳnh (May 9 & 10).

Classics and Coffee Series

For their first performance together this season, Abrams and the orchestra present Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana, joined by Kent Hatteberg’s Louisville Chamber Choir. Soloists include soprano Erin Keesy, tenor Dylon Crain, and bass-baritone Elliot Madore. Also on the program is Meditations on Rilke by Abrams’s close friend and mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas, who composed the work inspired, in part, by family stories about his father playing popular and classical songs in a small-town Arizona bar. “Electrifying” (Dallas Morning News) mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung joins Abrams and the LO to perform the work (Oct 19).

Also in the fall, Abrams leads a Classics Series concert featuring violinist Ray Chen, praised in the Huffington Post for playing that offered “emotional depth of great intimacy.” The violinist joins the orchestra as soloist in Barber’s Violin Concerto, on a program with Louisville native Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra, “Renaissance,” a Philadelphia Orchestra commission that reflects on the Great Migration that brought millions of Black southerners to northern cities, and the cultural renaissance that followed in Harlem and beyond. Complementing those works are pieces composed by the three current members of the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps, who – along with Coleman – will make special guest appearances at the concert. Baldwin Giang’s intimacies, interruptions showcases the prize-winning young composer’s vivid, atmospheric style; Brittany J. Green dedicates her Against/Sharp, based on a quote from Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, “to the Black women and queer people of color who lost their lives violently as a result of their intersecting identities”; and Oswald Huỳnh’s I Ask My Mother to Sing incorporates Vietnamese folk songs and lullabies (Nov 16). A preview of this performance will be given in the 11am Coffee Series the previous day (Nov 15). As a counterpart to this performance, the “Creators Fest” concert in the spring will feature world premieres from each of the three Creators Corps composers (May 9 & 10).

About the Louisville Orchestra

The Louisville Orchestra was created in 1937 and sprang up in a time of need, just after the Ohio River Great Flood and in the wake of the Great Depression. Robert Whitney was invited to conduct the newly established orchestra, then known as the Louisville Philharmonic, and arrived from Chicago that same year. In forming the ensemble, 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 contributions 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, and recently winning a 2024 Grammy Award for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” for The American Project on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring the conductor’s own Piano Concerto with its dedicatee and Abrams’s longtime friend and collaborator, Yuja Wang, as soloist. A wide variety of immersive and innovative concert performances and educational programming continue to receive national attention, including the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps, a trailblazing initiative that provides a fully funded residency for three composers who receive local housing, a salary, health benefits and dedicated workspaces; the “In Harmony” tour, a multi-season community-building project on a giant scale funded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky – which has currently allocated $4.3 million through 2026 – that takes the orchestra to every corner of the state for concerts and special community events; and the performance of Abrams’s composition Mammoth, an immersive theater work inspired by and performed in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park in 2023 with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and a cast of local musicians. Recent press coverage includes a feature story on PBS NewsHour and articles and mentions in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and on 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.

High-resolution photos are available here.

Louisville Orchestra 2024–25 season

Sep 14
Louisville, KY
CLASSICS SERIES
“THE PLANETS”
Louisville Palace
Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor
MILHAUD: Kentuckiana: Divertissement on Twenty Kentucky Airs
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 (David Fray, piano)
HOLST: The Planets

Sep 24–26
“In Harmony” Tour
Western KY residency
Gabriel Lefkowitz, conductor
With Ben Sollee and friends
Sep 24: Murray, KY (Lovett Auditorium)
Sep 25: Hopkinsville, KY (Christian County High School)
Sep 26: Henderson, KY (Preston Arts Center)

Oct 19
Louisville, KY
CLASSICS SERIES
“CARMINA BURANA”
Whitney Hall
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
Elliot Madore, bass-baritone
Erin Keesy, soprano
Dylon Crain, tenor
Louisville Chamber Choir
Teddy Abrams, conductor
ORFF: Carmina Burana
Michael Tilson THOMAS: Meditations on Rilke

Oct 23
Louisville, KY
FILM SERIES
“(UN)SILENT FILM: NOSFERATU”
Whitney Hall
Gabriel Lefkowitz, conductor
Sebastian CHANG: Nosferatu

Oct 25
New Albany, IN
NIGHTLITES SERIES
“STAR TREK: MUSICAL VOYAGE THROUGH THE STARS”
The Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast
Bob Bernhardt, conductor

Oct 26
Louisville, KY
POPS SERIES
“STAR TREK: MUSICAL VOYAGE THROUGH THE STARS”
Whitney Hall
Bob Bernhardt, conductor

Nov 9
Louisville, KY
POPS SERIES
“RICK STEVES’ EUROPE”
Whitney Hall
Bob Bernhardt, conductor
Rick Steves, narrator

Nov 15 & 16
Louisville, KY
COFFEE & CLASSICS SERIES
“RAY CHEN PLAYS BARBER”
Whitney Hall
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Additional appearances by Valerie Coleman and Louisville Creator Corps: Baldwin Giang, Brittany J. Green, Oswald Huỳnh
Baldwin GIANG: intimacies, interruptions
Brittany J. GREEN: Against/Sharp
BARBER: Violin Concerto (Ray Chen, violin)
Oswald HUỲNH: I Ask My Mother to Sing
Valerie COLEMAN: Concerto for Orchestra, “Renaissance”

Nov 23
Louisville, KY
FILM SERIES
“THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS”
Louisville Palace
Jason Seber, conductor

Dec 6
New Albany, IN
NIGHTLITES SERIES
“HANDEL’S MESSIAH”
The Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast
Kent Hatteberg, conductor
Louisville Chamber Choir

Dec 14
Louisville, KY
POPS SERIES
“HOLIDAY POPS”
Louisville Palace
Bob Bernhardt, conductor

Jan 17 & 18
Louisville, KY
COFFEE & CLASSICS SERIES
“MIDORI AND AN ALPINE SYMPHONY”
Whitney Hall
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Midori, violin
Chou WEN-CHUNG: And the Fallen Petals
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto
R. STRAUSS: An Alpine Symphony

Jan 25
Louisville, KY
CLASSICS SERIES
“TEDDY CONDUCTS DER KAISER VON ATLANTIS”
Whitney Hall
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Brittany J. GREEN: New work
ULLMANN: Der Kaiser von Atlantis

Feb 7
New Albany, IN
NIGHTLITES SERIES
“TIME FOR THREE”
The Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Time For Three string trio
Louisville Orchestra

Feb 14 & 15
Louisville, KY
COFFEE & CLASSICS SERIES
“RAVEL’S ROMANTIC REVERIE”
Whitney Hall
Ken-David Masur, conductor
TAKEMITSU: Star-Isle
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G (Louis Lortie, piano)
FRANCK: Selections from Psyché
RAVEL: Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé

Feb 19
Louisville, KY
FILM SERIES
“RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK”
Louisville Palace
Jason Seber, conductor

Feb 22
Louisville, KY
POPS SERIES
“DECADES BACK TO THE 80S”
Louisville Palace
Bob Bernhardt, conductor

March 7
New Albany, IN
NIGHTLITES SERIES
“STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD”
The Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast
Joseph Young, conductor
Gabriel Lefkowitz, violin
Nicholas Finch, cello
BERLIOZ: Roman Carnival Overture
Ellen Taaffe ZWILICH: Concerto for Violin and Violoncello
Alex BERKO: New work
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite

March 7 & 8
Louisville, KY
COFFEE & CLASSICS SERIES
“STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD”
Whitney Hall
Joseph Young, conductor
Gabriel Lefkowitz, violin
Nicholas Finch, cello
BERLIOZ: Roman Carnival Overture
Ellen Taaffe ZWILICH: Concerto for Violin and Violoncello
Alex BERKO: New work
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite

March 22
Louisville, KY
POPS SERIES
“A BOY BAND SYMPHONY”
Whitney Hall
Bob Bernhardt, conductor
Vocalists from *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and O-Town

April 9
Louisville, KY
FILM SERIES
“HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 1”
Louisville Palace

April 11
Louisville, KY
FILM SERIES
“HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2”
Louisville Palace

May 9 & 10
Louisville, KY
COFFEE & CLASSICS SERIES
“CREATORS FEST”
Whitney Hall
Teddy Abrams, conductor
World premieres by Baldwin GIANG, Brittany J. GREEN and Oswald HUỲNH