New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?
How many cities the size of Louisville have orchestras with the pedigree of the LO, and how many of them have musical directors known in the community on a first name basis?
Dear Music Lovers
Teddy is planning 3 very special concerts next week. They are easy to miss because it's early and we are all taking a moment after a busy holiday season,
however, this is one of those "TRUST TEDDY" moments.
Teddy wants all of Louisville to share in what is unique and intensely creative about his friend and fellow musician Gabriel Kahane.
Please take the time to consider attending any one of these performances. You'll be glad you did.
Teddy's video mentions only Paristown Pointe in terms of a performance venue, but the show's coming to SoIn as well, and we'll be there.
Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 travels the Rhine River exploring music from lively folk dancing to the high ceremony in the Cologne Cathedral. Teddy Abrams leads the LO in this imaginative and creative work in a program titled "BOOK OF TRAVELERS."
These concerts also introduce singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane performing his original music, Pattern of the Rail and Empire Liquor Mart.
Gabriel Kahane writes poignant short stories and puts them to music. Making his LO debut with a new orchestral suite of songs, he is a troubadour for our troubled times. Gabriel engages with the audience and is thought-provoking, funny, and truly delightful. A concert for your restless soul.
As winter yielded to spring, two household arrivals notched up my enthusiasm. Of course it hasn't hurt that climatic conditions are genuinely springlike, given our experience in 2018 of winter and summer being separated by a mere week of temperate weather.
First a kitten named Luna came into our household via the good offices of Dr. David Rowland. She's still a couple months shy of one year old, and if her perpetual motion could be tethered to a turbine, we'd have no need for Duke Energy.
Our eccentric elderly cats both died last year, and Mila the recovering feral feline is reclusive and laid back. Consequently to enter a room these days and find Luna hanging from the chandelier has been a delightful change of pace.
Second, a wonderful album called High, which to my chagrin was released all the way back in 2015. Naturally the band Royal Headache already has disbanded (in 2018), but knowing this sad fact has not affected my enjoyment of the album.
I became aware of Royal Headache at Pints&union one morning when an earworm occurred during Calvin daily playlist. He identified the band and noted the particular song as being atypical of the album as a whole.
Calvin was right; the remainder of the album is very different -- and now that I've heard all the tunes, the quasi-ballad can be judged as an inspired bit of contrast.
This is not a didactic or complicated band. A lot of Royal Headache’s songs are about elusive objects of desire (High) or trying to find some form of escape in a world that seems to forbid it (Electric Shock). They aren’t as light on their feet as they were on their 2011 debut – there are times on High when the ensemble slows its pace, as on the ballad Wouldn’t You Know – but these departures from punk orthodoxy allow Shogun’s vocals to insinuate much more than the band’s earlier lovelorn outsider anthems. Royal Headache isn’t a punk band any more, but that’s OK. They’re more.
Some day I'll finally understand why certain types of songs always capture my attention. The key, the tempo, the mood; I can't explain it, but "Wouldn't You Know" has it. I regret the band's untimely passing and look forward to what I hope is the inevitable reunion.
Meanwhile, it came as a complete shock to me when I realized there had been only three CD purchases in March and April.
Catfish and the Bottlemen's third album is called The Balance. The formula has not varied, and this meets with my approval. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 1) is the most recent release from Foals, another British band that probably won't include Louisville when (or if) they tour America.
I'll readily concede that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selections for 2019 were pleasing to me, including personal favorites like Def Leppard, Roxy Music and Radiohead. In recent years the RRHoF finally is catching up to my standards.
As discussed previously, I'm continuing to loosen the reins and allowing myself to enjoy the archives rather than constantly obsess over finding new music. There isn't as much new music to my tastes as before, and I'm content to wait for the pendulum to swing back -- or not.
I can't point to specific highlights, just a well-rounded listening regimen -- rock and pop, jazz and classical.
The rest of you can prattle on about your basketball coaches while I yawn and fire up the gramophone -- because here's a genuinely important contract extension.
Louisville, KY (3.20.2019)… The Louisville Orchestra Board of Directors, together with CEO, Robert Massey, are pleased to announce an unprecedented 5-year contract to extend the term of Teddy Abrams as Music Director. This extension from the usual 3-year contract renewal shows the organization’s confidence in the artistic direction and creative vision of the young conductor.
“We’re thrilled to make this extraordinary commitment to engaging Teddy until the 2024-2025 Season. His vision for the renaissance of the arts for our orchestra and our community is unique in the world,“ says John P. Malloy, President of the LO Board of Directors.
Abrams was named Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra in 2014, the youngest conductor ever named to that position with a major orchestra. He’s become a popular figure throughout Louisville while developing a national reputation for innovation and community building.
Since stepping onto the Louisville Orchestra podium, Abrams has built an impressive list of accomplishments including the release of “All In,” the LO’s first album in nearly 30 years, which reached #1 on the Classical Billboard chart. He has re-invigorated the orchestra’s historic leadership in commissioning new works and presenting world premieres. His own award-winning compositions have brought a diverse new audience to the Louisville Orchestra including The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, Unified Field, Kentucky Royal Fanfare (which was performed for Charles, Prince of Wales) and others. One of his first priorities was establishing a new concert series that took the orchestra into Louisville neighborhoods for performances in the Music Without Borders Series to expand the orchestra’s community impact. He also launched a 2-concert “Festival of American Music,” a musical challenge to audiences to expand the definition of concert music through an exploration of the American influences on the music of all genres.
Artistic collaboration has become a focus for Abrams’s work. Several of his most notable collaborators have been indie-rocker Jim James, Grammy-Award winning fiddler Michael Cleveland, folk singer-songwriter Will “Bonnie Prince Billy” Oldham, choreographers Adam Hoagland and Andrea Schermoly, filmmakers Dennis Scholl and Owsley Brown III, and many more. Abrams’s efforts to bring the Louisville arts community into collaborative projects have resulted in exceptional performances featuring individuals and local organizations including Louisville Ballet, University of Louisville musicians from the choral and jazz programs, artists from the Kentucky College of Art and Design, independent local artists such as rapper Jecorey “1200” Arthur, folk fiddler Scott Moore, folk cellist Ben Sollee, jazz singer Carly Johnson and others.
A passionate advocate for music education and mentoring, Abrams regularly conducts in-school masterclasses at middle and high schools, launched a select program to personally support serious high school students in their music pursuits, revitalized the Louisville Orchestra’s 78-year-old MakingMUSIC program of education concerts for elementary school children, crafted a recycling-creativity project for youngsters to make musical instruments from “trash” known as “Landfill Orchestra,” and is currently working with the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization (dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts) to mentor two talented young conductors.
In addition to his activities as Music Director for the Louisville Orchestra, Abrams is Music Director for the Britt Festival, a summer concert series based in Jacksonville, Oregon. He is in demand as a guest conductor and has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the National Orchestra, and the orchestras in Houston, Milwaukee, Vancouver, Colorado, Phoenix and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He served as assistant conductor of the Detroit Symphony from 2012 to 2014. From 2008 to 2011, Abrams was the Conducting Fellow and Assistant Conductor of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, serving under his long-time mentor Michael Tilson Thomas.
An accomplished pianist and clarinetist, Abrams has appeared as soloist in Louisville and across the country. He also collaborates with a wide variety of musicians as keyboardist for both classical, indie-rock and pop concerts. He has held residencies at the La Mortella music festival in Ischia, Italy, and at the American Academy in Berlin. Abrams is a proud alumnus of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a bachelor of music degree, having studied piano with Paul Hersh.
There'll also be a "coffee concert" with the same program at the Kentucky Center on Friday morning (February 2) at 11:00 a.m. I'm not sure we'll be able to make either of these, but I encourage readers to get the LO back on your radar. The event calendar is here.
SAT 3 FEB :: Themes of heroism, bravery, lost companions and even life and death come together in a dramatic and moving program. Composer Sebastian Chang collaborates with Iraqi artist Vian Sora to create a new work based on Ms. Sora’s personal experience.
CHARLES IVES: They Are There!RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Dona Nobis Pacem, Mvt. 2 “Beat! Beat! Drums!”CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI: Madrigals of War and Love (selections) SERGEI PROKOFIEV: Waltz from War and Peace SEBASTIAN CHANG: Between Heaven and Earth A collaboration with Vian Sora [WORLD PREMIERE] ARNOLD SCHOENBERG: A Survivor from WarsawGUSTAV MAHLER: “Revelge” from Des Knaben WunderhornARVO PÄRT: Summa for Choir SAMUEL BARBER: Adagio for Strings MAURICE RAVEL: La Valse
TEDDY ABRAMS, conductor
KENT HATTEBERG, chorusmaster Louisville Chamber Choir U of L Collegiate Chorale Chad Sloan, narrator + vocalist Vian Sora, visual artist
Deanna Hoying’s interview with Teddy Abrams, Sebastian Chang, and Vian Sora can be found here.
It's axiomatic to the point of unthinking assumption, because if you go to just about any live performance by a pop music performer or band -- rock, country, hip-hop or klezmer -- there'll be a merch area where CDs, t-shirts and other souvenir bric-a-brac are being hawked.
This is less the case at formal music venues, which is why it was so much fun to see the Louisville Orchestra's merch area at its Ogle Center performance in November. We picked up a copy of the orchestra's new CD, reviewed here.
Can official bumper stickers and tie-dye tees be far behind?
In September, the Louisville Orchestra released All In, its first recording in nearly 30 years. The album, which reached number one on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart, is filled with youthful energy and a thrilling disregard for boundaries.
It's a positive review, and for us, All In is both welcomed and enjoyable. While the Louisville Orchestra never went away, currently it's on a demonstrable upswing, and perhaps even a comeback.
My friend and former colleague Robert Simonds serves as the Louisville Orchestra’s Principal Second Violin. Recently, I asked him about this new recording and the atmosphere in Louisville. This excerpt from his response highlights the importance of an orchestra’s passionate service and engagement with the community:
Teddy (Abrams) has absolutely transformed the orchestra and truly deserves the title: Music Director. He’s not just the director of classical music during the weeks he’s here. Teddy is interested in the whole institution and maybe more importantly, its place in the community’s fabric. His openness to every corner of Louisville is inspiring. His fluency in so many styles is incredible. He’s the music director I’ve been waiting my whole career to play for because he’s the first leader that has made me believe that an orchestra can be important to is city.
We are really proud of the record. His piece is maybe the most challenging orchestral work I’ve ever performed, never mind recorded. One of our first violinists, Scott Staidle, has a saying about the older LO recordings: “We used to record an hour’s worth of music in 45 minutes.” Making this record made me truly understand what he meant. But that sums up Teddy’s operating principle. We go at a super-charged pace and when you’re in it, it can be disorienting. When the dust settles, we realize that we accomplished something great.
The best spin I can attach to the term "classical music," this being inevitable shorthand that I tend to resist, is that it capably assists in delineating a broad swath of territory until there is time to break it down more specifically.
Everyday enjoyment of classical music doesn't require you to strain your brain with such fine distinctions, but it definitely helps to understand that classical music is a living tradition that's being defined and redefined every day. Though Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and their contemporaries will always have pride of place in the world of classical music, the long history of what we now consider classical music didn't begin with them and certainly didn't end with them.
The classical music tradition lives on in composers writing scores for performance by orchestras, for chamber ensembles, for solo performers — and also in unexpected places. Even if you never listen to "classical music," you're constantly hearing music that's been influenced by the classical tradition, from precisely composed video-game scores to Beatles songs influenced by avant-garde composers to heavy-metal guitarists stealing chords (maybe without even knowing it) from Richard Wagner.
All I know for sure is a sense of ongoing gratitude at being exposed to this "classical" realm.
There have been a jumble of influences, ranging from children's compilation LPs to high school choir, including instruction from mentors like Bob Youngblood and my cousin Don Barry, and coming to fruition in the early 1980s when I belatedly discovered WUOL, back then the University of Louisville's FM radio source for "classical" music, one still going strong today as part of Louisville's public radio partnership.
On November 11, the LO will be back at Ogle with Teddy Abrams conducting Russian Easter Overture and Scheherazade, two personal favorites by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. I'm looking forward to this as much or more than Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie at the Louisville Palace on November 5. If Kamasi Washington would play somewhere on the 8th, it would be one of the best weeks ever.
For a very long time it has been my contention that formal "classical" music is just as deserving of "vernacular" appeal as any other musical idiom. It needs to be taken to the people. What I enjoyed most about the Mostly Mozart performance at Ogle was conductor Bob Bernhardt's educational stories between numbers, which served to humanize and contextualize music that otherwise might appear daunting.
For the LO to perform a movement of a Mozart symphony, then to be informed that the composer wrote this piece at the age of 8, is to be drawn inside a larger conversation. It strikes me that whatever 1990s-era role I had in popularizing better beer, it derived from telling stories and educating, and giving someone other compelling reasons to care apart from the alcohol. Music and beer can be enjoyed sans background, but a little knowledge goes a very long way.
The LO really seems to be on a roll, which Bernhardt attributes to Abrams' energy and worth ethic, and the ensemble's enduring professionalism. It is a winning combination, indeed.
Bill Doolittle's essay at Insider Louisville offers an overview.
Led by its youthful music director Teddy Abrams, the symphony seems to be creating not just a sound, but also a story that’s getting out and about town — catching the ear of the city in a way it hasn’t in decades.
While there’s not exactly an Oklahoma Land Rush to the box office, tickets sales are up, attendance is up, interest is up and — maybe most important — when someone mentions Teddy and the orchestra, people listen.
A band on the move, that’s the feeling, even among folks who don’t attend concerts and never listen to classical music.
Our flight from Detroit landed at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night. Thunder Over Louisville's fireworks began promptly at 9:30 p.m., and I was grimly determined to be home as quickly as possible.
Once securely barricaded and with whiskey in hand, I laughed out loud at my social media feed. It appeared that most of my friends under the age of 45 loved the locally themed music during the fireworks, or at least grasped the merit of it, while those my age and older were bitterly critical.
Aw ... would more classic rock help y'all feel better?
Speaking only for myself, since Thunder is an annoying distraction far beyond its musical component, which quite likely is the display's only redeeming quality, I was thrilled to know Teddy Abrams was involved.
Now we know the theme for this year's Thunder Over Louisville — "Thunder: Local & Original." The theme will help direct the soundtrack for the fireworks display, which will feature the music of Louisville and Kentucky natives ...
... Teddy Abrams, conductor and music director for the Louisville Orchestra, will collaborate with Thunder's producer, Wayne Hettinger. Abrams researched and created dozens of music tracks for this year's soundtrack, according to the release. The Louisville Orchestra also will be included in the soundtrack.
Coincidentally, this soon-to-be-forgotten tempest in a spittoon accompanies an article from The Economist I'd previously slated for a link.
For my money, Abrams is doing a great job of taking "classical" music to the masses, as it were. As Prospero's essay concludes, "What classical music—especially the contemporary kind—needs to thrive among 21st-century audiences may not be pre-concert cocktail receptions or other incentives. It may simply need a completely different concert format."
Different concert formats may help to attract new fans
... Yet (Steve) Reich enjoyed an attentive crowd in Tallinn; chances were they didn’t realise they were listening to contemporary classical music. “People want to hear things that have a concept attached to them,” explains Kristjan Järvi, the Estonian conductor who performed the pieces with his Baltic Sea Philharmonic. Mr Järvi’s idea for the concert, where Mr Reich’s unusually crowd-pleasing interpretation of Radiohead songs formed the centrepiece, was to create an all-round experience of music and light design. The performance took place not in a concert hall but in a former power station now functioning as a creative hub. “Concert hall lighting has all the atmosphere of a dentist’s office,” Mr Järvi says. And, he argues, “traditional classical concerts only appeal to a certain crowd, people who have been introduced to classical music by their parents.”
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