SFCV: Yuja Wang Dazzles With Teddy Abrams’s Boisterous Piano Concerto

By Richard S. Ginell
San Francisco Classical Voice
April 2023

The Teddy Abrams Express continues to roll through the byways and superhighways of American music with The American Project, although superstar pianist Yuja Wang gets top billing and the label is Germany’s Deutsche Grammophon. The album is also a continuation of the Louisville Orchestra’s resurrection on recordings after a nearly 30-year drought…

Read the full article from San Francisco Classical Voice

Classical Voice North America: A Visionary Orchestra Breaks Cultural Mold

By Nancy Malitz
April 7, 2023

LOUISVILLE — Yo-Yo Ma will be performing here? In Mammoth Cave? When attention-getting Louisville Orchestra music director Teddy Abrams announced a ticket raffle for an April 29 orchestra concert starring the cello superstar in his cavern debut, the event quickly sold out while raising awareness for the orchestra’s upcoming statewide tours. That off-the-cave-wall concert is emblematic of Abrams’ out-of-the box approach to enhancing his orchestra’s image and building audiences in Louisville as well as statewide in Kentucky.

Read more from Classical Voice North America.

Musical America Names Teddy CONDUCTOR OF THE YEAR

Musical America has named Teddy Abrams their Conductor of the Year for 2022. The announcement precedes a ceremony to present the award which will take place in December 2021. This prestigious honor has been previously awarded to legendary conductors like Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, and Christoph von Dohnányi. Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer congratulated Teddy at a press conference at the Kentucky Center of Arts on October 12. Here is Teddy’s statement on receiving this honor:

I’m incredibly grateful and overwhelmed to receive this award from Musical America; the honor, however, should be shared by my extraordinary colleagues here in Louisville, both on- and offstage, who have become family to me these past seven seasons. We have worked tirelessly together to live by our values: to interconnect the unending pursuit of the creative spirit with the call to service and communion on behalf of our city. I am very proud of the work we’ve accomplished so far in Louisville, and I believe that we are beginning an era of further transformation and growth in a city that deserves it and in an industry that needs bold redefinition. After a particularly challenging period in Louisville’s history I am thrilled that Musical America has offered this recognition for our orchestra and this spotlight for our beautiful city and state.

Additional press about the awarding of this honor can be found here:

Louisville Courier-Journal

WAVE 3 News

Louisville Orchestra 2021-22 Season is LIVE

The Louisville Orchestra’s 2021-22 Season has been announced: https://louisvilleorchestra.org/new-begininigs/

This is the boldest season we’ve produced since I arrived in Louisville. Our community deserves it.

My statement about the programs next season:

Throughout the past year the Louisville Orchestra has reaffirmed its aspirations to function as a core civic service in Louisville, to help lead our community into a new era of growth and creativity. The 2021-22 season is a reflection and amplification of these values. Despite the challenges our city and nation have faced, we felt strongly that a significant and ambitious investment in creative programming was the best thing we could offer Louisville. Our commitments to equity and commissioning new work (derived from the Orchestra’s long history of leading in these fields) are intertwined: world premieres from seven local musicians to memorialize the pandemic era are juxtaposed with commissions from composers such as Dafnis Prieto, Angélica Negrón, Adam Schoenberg, and KiMani Bridges. Our annual Festival of American Music focuses on Latin America this season. Dafnis Prieto’s new work is a highlight of the Festival: it will be a danceable concerto grosso for a 10-member Cuban timba band and orchestra. We also begin a four-year exploration of the relationship between Jewish and Black composers, revealing interconnected narratives and mutual inspiration as we rediscover pieces that were suppressed or forgotten from composers of both backgrounds. I’m also very excited about the premiere of my own new work – a monstrously virtuosic piano concerto I’ve written for my friend Yuja Wang.

"Building a Bridge" - a film featuring Teddy's score - Premiering at Tribeca Film Festival

Teddy and his collaborator Nathan Farrington composed the music for a new documentary called Building a Bridge. The documentary, directed by Evan Mascagni and Shannon Posted and produced by Martin Scorsese, will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 15, 2021. The subject of the doc is Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest who has devoted his life to helping the Catholic Church be more tolerant and open to LGBTQ followers. Father Martin’s books, Building a Bridge and Learning to Pray, are international best-sellers, and have earned him a loyal following and an audience with Pope Francis. More info on the movie premiere here: https://tribecafilm.com/films/building-a-bridge-2021

Teddy and Jecorey Arthur Featured on NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

Teddy and longtime collaborator Jecorey Arthur (rapper, classical percussionist, educator, and Louisville Metro Councilman for District 4) talked to Ari Shapiro on NPR’s All Things Considered in advance of the Louisville Orchestra’s March 27 performance featuring Jecorey in a program exploring the story of Black Music in America. Here’s the interview and article: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/26/981694099/music-is-music-a-rapper-and-a-conductor-cross-centuries-in-louisville

Teddy Releases "FOURTH MODE" - a Track for World Sleep Day

Happy #WorldSleepDay! I just released a new track called FOURTH MODE to celebrate... I definitely didn't have the best sleep habits growing up and didn't factor healthy sleep into my routine (and I didn't have much of a healthy routine anyway). As my roommates from my San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Curtis Institute of Music days can attest, sleep mostly meant the moment when you literally couldn't practice or work another minute. There are still face marks on my Brahms symphonies scores from where I would just kind of expire each night in front of the heater in my Sunset neighborhood apartment in SF.. So to recognize World Sleep Day I took one of my favorite pieces - and a work that I used to practice late at night - Bach's Goldberg Variations - and "launched" the famous melody of the Aria up into the sky. Bach wrote this work to placate the insomnia of a wealthy Count, giving it the odd position of simultaneously entertaining and soothing its commissioner. His Variations ended up reflecting the ideals of "cosmic music" - contrapuntal perfection that never loses its humanity and expressivity. Playing the Goldberg Variations once served my own insomnia, so I offer my little FOURTH MODE as a gift back to Bach and as a spaced-out, relaxing moment for you all to enjoy as you consider the importance of a healthy sleep cycle!

Listen here: https://fanlink.to/e3yf

"Be Embraced" - A Lecture on Beethoven!

Teddy released a lecture on the creative process of Beethoven called “Be Embraced: The Struggle and Transcendence of Beethoven.” He delves into the choices Beethoven made to create some of his best-known piano works, including Für Elise and the Op. 109 piano sonata. Here’s the lecture, which was created for the Ross McKee Foundation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deBhh2ZIRCI

Vogue Features the Louisville Orchestra's Opening Concert

Vogue just featured the Louisville Orchestra in a piece about our opening concert of the 2020-21 Virtual Edition season. The article centers on our world premiere of Davóne Tines’ VIGIL, a piece written in memory of Breonna Taylor. The concert serves as both a healing and memorial performance for our city. Here is the article: https://www.vogue.com/article/louisville-orchestra-breonna-taylor

"Lift Up Louisville" featured on PBS NewsHour

Teddy helped lead an effort to bring dozens of Louisville musicians together, including Jim James, Will Oldham, Ben Sollee, Jecorey Arthur, Dani Markham, and Scott Carney, to create a song that belongs to the city of Louisville and its people during a time of tragedy and uncertainty. PBS NewsHour covered the release of the song, called Lift Up Louisville: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/louisville-musicians-make-a-song-for-the-city-amid-crisis

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