View source for Louisville Orchestra

{{short description|Classical orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky}}
{{Use list-defined references|date=June 2023}} 
{{infobox orchestra
| name           = Louisville Orchestra
| type           = <nowiki />
| image          = Louisville Orchestra Portrait.jpg
| image_size     = 300px
| location       = [[Louisville, Kentucky]]
| founded        = 1937
| former_name    = Louisville Philharmonic Society
| concert_hall   = [[Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts]]
| music_director = [[Teddy Abrams]]
| website        = [https://louisvilleorchestra.org/ louisvilleorchestra.org]
}}

The '''Louisville Orchestra''' is the primary [[orchestra]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]]. It was founded in 1937 by [[Robert Whitney (conductor)|Robert Whitney]] (1904–1986). The Louisville Orchestra employs salaried musicians, and offers a wide variety of concert series to the community, including classical programs featuring international guest artists, pops performances, and education and family concerts. In 1942 the orchestra adopted the name of the former '''Louisville Philharmonic Society''' (founded in 1866), which it kept until 1977 before reverting to its original name.{{r|GroveDict2001_Louisville}} The orchestra is the resident performing group for the [[Louisville Ballet]] and the [[Kentucky Opera]], and presents several concerts across the Kentucky/Indiana area.

The orchestra performs its concerts at [[The Kentucky Center#Performance facilities|Whitney Hall]] (named for its founder) in the [[Kentucky Center for the Arts]]{{r|GroveDict2001_Louisville}} and The [[Brown Theatre]].{{r|LouisvilleOrch2014}} The current music director of the Louisville Orchestra is [[Teddy Abrams]], who began his tenure in 2014.{{r|LouisvilleOrch2016}}

==First Edition Recordings==
{{main|List of First Edition Records releases}}
Ten years after its origin, the orchestra launched First Edition Records, becoming the first American orchestra to own a recording label. In 1953, the orchestra received a Rockefeller grant of $500,000 to commission, record and premiere [[20th-century music]] by living composers, placing the Louisville Orchestra on the international circuit. Between 1955 and 1992 at least 170 LPs were released, containing more than 450 compositions by living 20th Century composers.{{r|LouisvilleOrch2016}}

Eight [[compact disc]]s were compiled and released by First Edition Records between 1990 and 1994. Around 1999, the Louisville Orchestra was awarded grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the [[National Endowment for the Arts]], both for the purpose of digitizing all of their master tapes and restoring the music scores for archiving the orchestra's historic first edition Records recordings.{{r|LRP27Nov2018_Johnson}} Between 2001 and 2006 some 55 of the recordings were compiled by composer and re-released on CD on the First Edition Music label, which was not part of First Edition Records. The label ceased operations in 2006.{{r|FEM_DiscogsWeb}}

==Awards and recognition==
The Louisville Orchestra has earned nineteen ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. The history of commissioned works project is detailed in the documentary film ''[[Music Makes a City]]''.{{r|TNYT17Sep2010_Webster}} The Louisville Orchestra has performed for many events including "A Festival for the Arts" at the [[White House]], the Inter-American Music Festival at the [[Kennedy Center]], "Great Orchestras of the World" at [[Carnegie Hall]], and toured Mexico City. In 2001, the Louisville Orchestra received the Leonard Bernstein Award for Excellence in Educational Programming, presented annually by [[ASCAP]] and the American Symphony Orchestra League to one orchestra in North America.

==Music directors of the Louisville Orchestra==
*[[Robert Whitney (conductor)|Robert Whitney]] (1937–1967)
*[[Jorge Mester]] (1967–1979)
*[[John Nelson (conductor)|John Nelson]], artistic advisor (1979–1980)
*[[Akira Endo (conductor)|Akira Endo]] (1980–1982)
*[[Lawrence Leighton Smith]] (1983–1994)
*[[Joseph Silverstein]], artistic advisor (1994–1995)
*Max Bragado-Darman (1994–1998)
*Uriel Segal (1998–2004)
*[[Raymond Leppard]] served as artistic advisor (2004–2006)
*[[Jorge Mester]] (2006–2014)
*[[Teddy Abrams]] (2014–present)

==See also==
* [[List of symphony orchestras]]
* [[List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area]]

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=GroveDict2001_Louisville>{{cite book |last=Korda |first=Marion |date=2001 |chapter=Louisville |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-first=John |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (musicologist) |title=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780195170672}}</ref>

<ref name=LouisvilleOrch2014>{{cite web |date=2014 |title=2014–15 Classics and Coffee Concerts |website=The Louisville Orchestra |access-date=May 29, 2017 |archive-date=May 12, 2015 |url=https://www.louisvilleorchestra.org/louisville-orchestra-classics-and-coffee-concert/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512143036/https://www.louisvilleorchestra.org/louisville-orchestra-classics-and-coffee-concert/}}</ref>

<ref name=LouisvilleOrch2016>{{cite web |date=2016 |title=History |website=Louisville Orchestra website |url=https://louisvilleorchestra.org/about/history/ |access-date=May 29, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=LRP27Nov2018_Johnson>{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Emma |date=November 27, 2018 |title=Finding First Editions |website=the Louisville Renaissance Project |url=https://louisvillerenaissanceproject.com/2018/11/27/first-editions/}}</ref>

<ref name=TNYT17Sep2010_Webster>{{cite news |last=Webster |first=Andy |date=September 17, 2010 |title=Ky., as a Contemporary Music Hub |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=May 19, 2020 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/movies/17music.html}}</ref>

<ref name=FEM_DiscogsWeb>{{Discogs label|172289-First-Edition-Music|First Edition Music}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://louisvilleorchestra.org/}}
* [http://www.lomusicians.org/ Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association website]
* [https://archive.today/20140102202306/http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt72ng4gmz38 Louisville Orchestra Collection] at [[University of Louisville]], archives and records center
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q123472824|title=Music Makes a City: A Louisville Orchestra Story}}, [http://www.musicmakesacity.com/ web page]
* {{Discogs artist|1631446-The-Louisville-Orchestra}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060211201153/http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/performer.pl?ens=69 "Louisville Orchestra"]}}, eight performances by the orchestra, Art of the States, via [[Internet Archive]].

{{Portal bar|Classical music|Kentucky}}
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[[Category:Louisville Orchestra| ]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1937]]
[[Category:Arts organizations based in Louisville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Musical groups from Louisville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras]]
[[Category:1937 establishments in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Orchestras based in Kentucky]]
[[Category:American symphony orchestras]]