The Louisville Orchestra is having a fantastic year and its new season hasn’t even begun! Aside from appointing Teddy Abrams as Music Director and finally enjoying a budget surplus [4], the Orchestra’s opening concert on Saturday,
Fanfara
, is a sign of great things to come.
At just twenty-seven years old (the youngest of any American orchestra director), Abrams is already breathing new life into the city’s classical music scene. Underscoring the idea that maintaining relevance requires ensembles to engage with their audiences in more innovative ways, the Orchestra and its Director are looking to do more outside the concert hall. Whether it’s the new Music Without Borders [5] series or Magic of Music [6] Adult Education series, taking the music to the people seems to be top priority.
“It’s really important that the atmosphere matches the experience,” Abrams explains in a new web series [7] from the producers of
Music Makes A City
. “A lot of times I think that in the classical music world the experience is not actually all that comfortable and that’s one of the reasons why people have shied away. It’s all the things other than the music that have bothered people about actually getting involved in orchestras or so-called classical music.”
And while this weekend’s performance will take place in the Orchestra’s home at the Kentucky Center, its program is as stirring as ever. The season’s opening salvo will be the world premiere of Overture in Sonata Form, an original work by Abrams who is a gifted composer in his own right [8], as well as Mahler’s imposing Symphony No. 1 known as
Titan
.
Fanfara
will occur this Saturday, September 6th at 8:30 pm in Whitney Hall. Tickets begin at $25 and can be purchased online here [9].
(Photo courtesy of Louisville Orchestra.)
Connect with me on Twitter: @rackoflambert [10]!