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2019-20 Season Highlights

Gheens Great Expectations Concert at Whitney Hall on February 5

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This year's Gheens Concert featured the Louisville Orchestra, the Louisville Youth Orchestra's Symphony Orchestra, and the 2020 Gheens Artist Clayton Stephenson, piano.  The program opened with Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with Clayton Stephenson and the remarkable musicians of the Louisville Orchestra.  The LYO Symphony Orchestra then joined the LO for a side-by-side performance of Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor.  The combined orchestra of more than 120 musicians gave an exhilarating performance that concluded with a thunderous, standing ovation.  Doug Elmore, LYO Music Director, conducted the entire concert.

The Gheens Concert provides an important educational experience for the young LYO musicians and we are grateful for the nurturing support of the Louisville Orchestra musicians.  The concert was free to the public.

The concert was presented by Kentucky Performing Arts and Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA), in partnership with the Louisville Orchestra and the Louisville Youth Orchestra, with generous support from The Gheens Foundation, with additional support from Kentucky Music Educators Association, Classical 90.5 WUOL and from Dr. Laman Gray and Juliet Cooper Gray.

Cinema Stocking Stuffers Pops Concert at YPAS on December 15

The Repertory, Concert, and Serenade Orchestras presented a Pops Concert for the Holidays.

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Featuring three of LYO's amazing Horizons ensembles:  Single Reed, Treble, and Brass

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Plus the LYO Percussion Ensemble.                      More than 180 talented young musicians!

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Photos: Yenny Ho, LUZ-OM Photography

The Power of One middle school concert at Brown Theater on November 25

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More than 1,000 middle school students from throughout the region attended LYO's annual middle school concert at the historic Brown Theater.  This free concert is made possible through the support of individual patrons who remember the importance of "Making Music" concerts when they were young.  Teachers were given program notes in advance to explain this musical tribute to people throughout history who have taken a heroic stand and changed the world.  Music on the program depicts their passion, commitment, and principles:

Compositions included Maid of Orleans overture (Tchaikovsky), Creatures of Prometheus overture (Beethhoven), Lyric for Strings (George Walker) and El Cid (James Massenet).

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Sea Changes at the Brown Theater on Sunday, November 24, 2019

Sea Change was a Classical Concert featuring all four of the LYO orchestras.  The excerpts below are taken from each orchstra's program.  The program featured music inspired by significant transformations of social and personal norms. Composers included Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Sibelius, Walker, and Massenet.

The Symphony Orchestra also performed portions of the program at the LYO Middle School Concert, The Power of One, at the Brown Theater on Monday, November 25.

Symphony Orchestra

Doug Elmore, Conductor, Symphony Orchestra

Suite from El Cid 

--- Jules Massenet

I.     Castillane
II.    Andalouse

III.   Aragonaise

IV.   Aubade

V.    Catalane

VI.   Madrilene

VII.   Navarraise

Repertory Orchestra

Jason Hougland, Conductor, Repertory Orchestra

Procession of the Sardar 
From Caucasian Sketches 

--- Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov

     arr. Merle J. Isacc

Concert Orchestra

Christopher Lerner​, Conductor, Concert Orchestra

Impresario Overture

--- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Musical Menangerie concert at Highland Hills Middle School on November 10 

The Serenade Orchestra and all three Horizons Ensembles performed for an enthusiastic audience.

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Serenade OrchestraElise Kotheimer Gambrell,  ​Conductor, Serenade Orchestra

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Treble Ensemble

Katie McDonald, Coach

Brass Ensemble

John Little, Coach

Single Reed Ensemble

Brandon Bell, Coach

Photos: Yenny Ho, LUZ-OM Photography

The Violins of Hope is a collection of more than 50 restored instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. 

The LYO Symphony strings joined members of the NouLou Chamber Players honoring these legendary instruments and the people who cherished them.

It was a stirring program to a full house with a thunderous standing ovation.

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Adagio for Strings  (Samuel Barber)

Octet featuring members of the LYO Symphony Strings and NouLou Chamber Players.

Praeludium, Op.12a  (Victor Kohn)

Uv'tzeil K'nofecho  (Grunfeld/Zikmund Schul)

These two pieces were written by prisoners in the Terezin concentration camp.  Unfortunately there is little information about the composers and neither survived their imprisonment.  Doug Elmore, LYO Music Director, arranged each so that they can be appreciated today.

Theme from Schindler's List  (John Williams)

John Williams' score for Schlinder's List represented a dramatic shift in his compositional style and earned the 1994 Academy Award for Best Original Score.

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