AUTHOR MAGGIE HABERMAN 20 NATURAL BRIDGE STATE RESORT PARK

The orchestra is also continuing its Once Upon an Orchestra concerts in conjunction with the Louisville Free Public Library. Last year, 21 storytelling-with-music programs were presented by LO ensembles and reached every library in the LFPL system.

Orchestra musicians and narrators weave music and storytelling into an interactive experience built around beloved children’s stories. The programs, designed by librarians and Louisville Orchestra Education and Community Engagement Director Sarah Lempke O’Hare, include hands-on activities, such as building a musical instrument from recycled materials. And the programs tie into the LFPL’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge.

Composers TJ Cole and Tyler Taylor, from the LO Creators Corps, are developing new musical scores to highlight such famous children’s books as Where The Wild Things Are, Peter and the Wolf and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Mayor Greg Fischer describes the Once Upon an Orchestra series as a family-oriented affair, reaching across the community through the city’s excellent library system.

"This partnership of the city and the orchestra is a commitment to the health, well-being and healing of the neighborhoods and people of our community,” says Fischer. “Working across agencies ensures a sustainability of impact that none of us are able to accomplish on our own.”

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

In what might be termed a return to yesteryear, the Louisville Orchestra has received a $4.3 million grant from the Kentucky General Assembly to resume presentation of concerts throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Something it did decades ago. The barnstorming is set to begin in the spring of 2023. Sites range from Pikeville, in the easternmost part of the state, to Mayfield, in the Commonwealth’s farthest western region. Mayfield, of course, was delivered a devastating blow by a wave of enormous tornados that crashed through Western Kentucky in 2021 — but is now steadfastly rebuilding. That process provides a reminder that it is not just homes and buildings that are blown away in such events, but also things of personal nature that are essential to quality of life, such as eyeglasses and hearing aids and dentures that disappear in the winds and wash down the river in floods. Beyond the orchestra grant, the General Assembly also funded, for example, Louisville’s Heuser Hearing Institute to expand its services to tornado and flooding victims. Speaker of the House David Osborne believes the orchestra adds more to life for Kentuckians than merely a regional concert. It’s spreading artistic culture. “I look forward to seeing this series become reality,” says Osborne. “Our investment provides a unique opportunity to bring the incredible music of the Louisville Orchestra to communities throughout the state while honoring the talent in each region,” Jefferson county senator Julie Raque Adams agrees. “Teddy’s vision to engage students through collaboration and performances across our Commonwealth provides a welltimed opportunity to celebrate what unites us — our love and appreciation for great Kentucky music!” says Raque Adams.

Abrams believes music can celebrate the commonalities of Kentuckians.

“Kentucky is famous around the world for its outsize contributions to music in so many genres—from bluegrass to rock, rap, and (of course) orchestral music,” says Abrams. “So we developed the idea of taking the Louisville Orchestra throughout the Commonwealth, from the smallest communities to larger cities, to collaborate and share music-making with our fellow Kentuckians living in every part of the state.

Just a few of today’s LO musicians were performing under the baton of conductor Jorge Mester in his first term with the Louisville Orchestra in the 1970’s, when the symphony regularly packed up its instruments and hopped on busses that took it for overnight journeys around the state. Of course, each venue had its own stage, its own acoustics — its difficulties and its charms. But the travel could also be a fun change-of-pace for the musicians. Like a college marching band taking it on the road to a football rival. Or just time to read a book. A couple veterans of those tours recall a “friendly” poker game that would mysteriously pop up in the back of the bus.

Lefkowitz says he looks forward to all of it.

“Just in my short time here,” says Lefkowitz, “we have explored a variety of different venues. We’ve played in churches and synagogues, and in community centers like The Jeffersonian. I think the Logan Street Market will be especially fun. We’ve also played in some in fine concert halls, such as the Ogle Center, at Indiana University Southeast. And in a completely different atmosphere at Paristown Hall.”

"But always," he adds, "there is something personal about the performances."

“The audience members, they can really see us,” says Lefkowitz. “Sometimes so close they can see me sweat – and like to remind me of it! I hope not too much."

“It’s not just the musical sound, you know. It’s the incredible experience where the listeners are sometimes actually seeing over our shoulders. See the music we’re reading. See the technical nitty-gritty of how we make the sounds we make.”

And maybe get the feel of what it’s like to be in the ensemble that’s sewing those sounds together as a symphony.