From previews to premieres, the Louisville Orchestra’s season opener will cover a lot of territory, though the focus will stay close to home.
As conductor Teddy Abrams put it in a recent news release, this season the orchestra is “breaking down barriers and inviting everyone to engage in the spirit of discovery with us this season.”
The free community concert will take place Sept. 18 at the Iroquois Amphitheater. Here’s what you can expect:
Previews
The Louisville Orchestra will be giving a quick taste of some of the programming to come later in the season. For instance, in preparation for the “All Dvořák” Coffee and Classics concerts in October, they'll be playing select movements from the composer’s “Slavonic Dances.”
At the opening concert, audiences will also hear excerpts from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which will be heard in the “Shakespeare in Music” concert on Nov. 19.
Finally, the orchestra will play “Superman” by John William, which is slated to be featured in their “Heroes and Villains” family series in March.
Premieres
In addition to previews of what’s to come, the orchestra will be premiering completely new work by Louisville native Noah Sorota.
Sorota, who lives in Los Angeles, has worked as an arranger and programmer (and occasional soloist) on a number of major motion pictures, including “Transformers,” “The Simpsons Movie,” “The Dark Knight” and “Angels and Demons.”
For this concert, he has written a piece titled “Bluegrass” as tribute to the city and a remembrance of his mother, Karen Ruth Sorota.
“The inspiration of the composition is somewhat broad, ranging from memories to images and the landscape of Kentucky itself,” Sorota says. “These many impressions I set about distilling and setting into musical ideas and themes. The effect is a broader inspiration affecting the mood and tonality of the work, rather than specifically noting places, or moments in time.”
Local Favorites
Finally, the community concert will include some local favorites -- both songs and musicians.
#SingfortheCity winners Carly Johnson and Justin Paul Lewis will play their original compositions “The Believer” and “Go Outside.” These songs were to be performed at the LO Waterfront 3rd event, which was canceled for bad weather.
Louisville producer and lyricist Dr. Dundiff has written a piece called “Let It Go,” which will be performed by the orchestra with soul singer Otis Junior.
The program also includes a piece by Abrams called “Fiddling” and his orchestration of My Morning Jacket’s “One Big Holiday.”
The Orchestra Season Kickoff Concert will take place Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Iroquois Amphitheater.
