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The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) was founded in September 1991 upon the demise that year of the New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, as it was called, by musicians from that ensemble; music director Maxim Shostakovich did not continue, however. The LPO's first music director was Klauspeter Seibel (1936–2011), until his retirement in 2005. His work was widely praised in eulogies of his death in Hamburg, Germany, on January 8, 2011.
Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 caused the LPO's musicians to evacuate. Their venue, the Orpheum Theater, flooded. Members of the orchestra began performing at alternate locations in 2006. One of these locations was Palmer Park. The Orpheum Theater reopened in August 2015. Its inaugural gala took place on September 17: a concert by the LPO. The orchestra has since established itself as anchor tenant of the venue. The LPO also performs at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts for films and large productions. The LPO also serves as the orchestra for New Orleans Opera Association and Delta Festival Ballet that began in 1976 (as New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra) for a co-presentation of Sleeping Beauty.
On February 17, 2023, the LPO announced their next Music Director, Matthew Kraemer. He began his tenure as the orchestra's third Music Director on July 1, 2023.
In recent years, the LPO has really begun to turn its focus on collaborations with local artists. In January 2022, the orchestra performed with Tank and The Bangas on a full concert at the Orpheum Theater. The orchestra followed that performance with a collaboration with the Lost Bayou Ramblers on January 15, 2023. On August 18, 2023 the LPO released a recording of the LPO along with the Lost Bayou Ramblers called "Live: Orpheum Theater NOLA." The album went on to be nominated and win at the 65th annual Grammy Awards for Best Regional Roots Music Album.
In April 2023, the orchestra brought together local bounce legend Big Freedia to perform with the orchestra. This was the first time that a bounce artist performed with an orchestra. This concert was also recorded and released as a live album on April 19, 2024 as Big Freedia's first live album titled Big Freedia with the Louisiana Philharmonic: Live at The Orpheum Theater.
The orchestra appeared in New York City in October 2005 in a joint concert with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. The concert was in benefit of the LPO musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. On February 27, 2018, the LPO made its Carnegie Hall debut in Stern Auditorium on the Perelman Stage. The program was part of the celebration of Philip Glass and the LPO was chosen by the composer himself. The program featured Glass' Days and Nights in Rocinha (1997) and the Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra (2000) as well as Silvestre Revueltas’s La Noche de los Mayas. The encore on the program was Gabriela Ortiz's Antrópolis. The program was conducted by music director at the time, Carlos Miguel Prieto.
In partnership with The Historic New Orleans Collection, the LPO annually offers a live concert broadcast online that highlights the cultural heritage of Louisiana and the Gulf South. It is estimated this concert, along with its corresponding education materials, impacts more than 50,000 middle-school students across the state of Louisiana. The concert takes place annually at the historic St. Louis Cathedral. |
