Tagged: orchestra

Classical music fans have a packed weekend ahead -- the Louisville Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra are both playing the Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall with acclaimed piano soloists.

Louisville Orchestra CEO Robert Birman will leave his post at the end of this month. The orchestra announced his resignation Saturday morning.

“I leave on a high note,” says Birman. “I’m very proud of the players and my board and my staff. Everybody is pulling in one direction, and for that reason I thought this was an appropriate time to make this announcement.”

Today, All Things Considered asks an intriguing question. It's a scene we take for granted: the orchestra cues up and plays at the direction of the baton-wielding, tuxedoed conductor. But if orchestra musicians play with sheet music in front of them, do they really need conductors? Shankar Vedantam consults not art, but science--a study from the University of Maryland that tracked how orchestra players followed conductors: 

If you hear the church bells ringing at St. John’s on East Market Street during Friday night’s Trolley Hop, consider it your call to post. The bells will ring about a minute before each short concert by Louisville’s Bourbon Baroque ensemble. There will be two 30-minute performances, at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.

Bourbon Baroque stages their monthly free cantata series concerts during each Trolley Hop. They’re casual, social and free—not your typical classical music setting.