The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is an American

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

based in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. It is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the

Gulf South The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

. The orchestra performs at the Orpheum Theater. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra's music director is

Carlos Miguel Prieto Carlos Miguel Prieto (born 14 November 1965) is a Mexican conductor. He is music director of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria, of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, and The Orc ...

. The LPO performs a full 36-week concert season featuring an array of Classics, Casual Classics, Family, Education, and Outreach concerts, as well as Special Events. The members of the LPO are home-based in New Orleans and serve the Gulf South region. LPO is the longest-standing musician-governed and collaboratively operated professional symphony in the United States.

History

The 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 Maxim Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (russian: Макси́м Дми́триевич Шостако́вич; born 10 May 1938 in Leningrad) is a Soviet, Russian and American conductor and pianist. He is the second child of the composer Dmitri Shostak ...

did not continue, however. The LPO's first music director was

Klauspeter Seibel Klauspeter Seibel (7 May 1936 in Offenbach am Main – 8 January 2011 in Hamburg) was a German conductor. Trained at the Nuremberg Conservatory and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, he was principal conductor of the Nuremberg Symp ...

(1936–2011), until his retirement in 2005. His work was widely praised in eulogies of his death in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on January 8, 2011.

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

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 wa
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 Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in ad ...

and Delta Festival Ballet that began in 1976 (as New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra) for a co-presentation of

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

Music Directors

(1991-2005)

(2005-Current)

References

External links

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Orpheum Theater, New Orleans

Uniquely New Orleans - The Classical Tradition and Jazz on YouTube
{{Authority control American orchestras Musical groups from New Orleans Musical groups established in 1991 Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras Performing arts in Louisiana 1991 establishments in Louisiana

History

Music Directors

See also

References

External links