Kentucky in harmony
Teddy Abrams brings the Louisville Orchestra to the state
When Teddy Abrams conducted the Louisville Orchestra deep inside Mammoth Cave in 2023, the experience was masterful, immersive, resonant and wholly unique.
Working as the national park’s artist-in-residence, Abrams had composed the music specifically for featured cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the acoustics of the underground chamber called Rafinesque Hall. Mammoth reflected and celebrated the rich human and natural history of one of Kentucky’s most cherished places.
Whether playing his keyboard in neighborhoods across Louisville or leading the orchestra across the state for a series of on the road concerts, Abrams explores the idea of music as a civic service, a community builder and a place-based expression. Abrams is entering his 12th year as music director of the Louisville Orchestra. He was just 27 when he was hired, and though he’s now more seasoned, a sense of playfulness and enthusiasm continue to infuse his work. He is recognized as an innovative conductor, composer, pianist and music director. Musical America named him the 2022 Conductor of the Year. He won a Grammy Award in 2024 for a piano concerto composition he wrote for Yuja Wang. This year he was named a Louisville Hometown Hero 2.0 and honored with a larger-than-life banner on a city building.
The In Harmony tour introduces a young community member to the orchestra in Hopkinsville. Photo: O’Neil Arnold
Abrams sees his role as all-encompassing—it’s about community relationships as much as music itself. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Abrams now lives in Louisville and identifies as a Kentuckian. Many of the compositions he has written during his tenure honor the stories, people and music of this place. Besides the Mammoth show, there’s Ali, the Broadway musical he is writing about the life of Muhammad Ali, and an upcoming orchestral work for the orchestra’s 2025–26 season that weaves in stories of Kentucky he gathered from community listening sessions around the state.
“When musicians say they aspire to be world class, it suggests they need to be performing art from someplace else,” Abrams says. “I believe creativity exists in the fabric of a town and community and emerges where it is developed and encouraged and allowed to grow. World-class creativity is cultivated in our own place.”
The Louisville Orchestra’s most ambitious effort to foster world-class music across Kentucky is In Harmony: The Commonwealth Tour, a multiyear tour of free concerts in smaller communities across the state. The tour initially kicked off in 2022 when the orchestra was awarded $4.3 million by the Kentucky legislature. In 2024, the state appropriated another $4.3 million to extend the tour through 2026.
The Louisville Orchestra visits Glasgow. Photo: O’Neil Arnold
Abrams conceived the tour as a win-win: an equitable opportunity for all Kentuckians and an adventurous experience for the orchestra’s musicians. Philosophically, he hopes to build bridges across the rural-urban divide.
“Music opens up a sense of commonality and connection with people who might not otherwise congregate together,” Abrams says. “It is one of the last things to cut right through. Every experience on tour has felt genuinely positive and healing.”
Kentuckians have a deeply ingrained love and legacy of music, and the orchestra enters new communities as guests. They perform a wide range of musical styles, music that many people already know and love. That includes collaborating with Kentucky masters of bluegrass and folk, like mandolin player Chris Thile and cellist Ben Sollee.
The program for each tour features a new piece of music, created by one of the orchestra’s own composers-in-residence. These Creators Corps members spend time in tour locations to collaborate with local composers, research local history and immerse themselves in place. In September, new works include a piece at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill reflecting its long musical history and an installation arrangement around Cumberland Falls.
Guest musician Chris Thile performs during an In Harmony tour stop in Madisonville. Photo: O’Neil Arnold
In addition to performing concerts, visiting members of the orchestra play at schools, libraries, local cafes and assisted living centers. In the first three years of the tour, In Harmony reached 40,000 Kentuckians through 185 events in 45 counties. Beyond the numbers, Abrams has powerful memories of music reaching and connecting with people. Children who are learning to play instruments approached him after shows, grateful to hear their first live classical music concert. Residents of a juvenile detention facility moved from suspicion to participation, he says, improvising, clapping and talking with him during an interactive workshop.
The Louisville Orchestra see itself as redefining the role of an orchestra in the 21st century. Programs in Louisville reach new audiences, break down stereotypes and make classical music more approachable. Music without Borders takes the orchestra outside of concert halls to neighborhoods, where it shares global music traditions. Once Upon an Orchestra is a free family concert series, often held at libraries, with interactive storytelling through music. Rap School, now in its eighth year, welcomes students from different schools to compose and perform original hip-hop pieces.
Teddy Abrams speaks with audience members during an In Harmony concert in Bowling Green. Photo: O’Neil Arnold
The state appropriation supports In Harmony through the February 2026 tour, but Abrams hopes funding will be renewed for another two years. Looking ahead, plans include both visiting new venues and returning to previously visited communities. Lasting long-term benefits are only possible beyond the initial visit, he says, when relationships are deepened and people have a sense of shared humanity: “Showing up and building relationships are the basis of empathy.”
In June, Kentucky’s Congressional delegation invited Abrams and some of the tour soloists to play a concert in the Senate office building in Washington, D.C. More than 400 people from across the country—and across the aisle—listened to the musical demonstration and details about the tour’s powerful impact in the commonwealth.
“We got to show this great bipartisan thing happening right now, and that artists can be part of the solution to issues these leaders are trying to address,” Abrams says. “Kentucky is a national model for how to do this kind of collaboration.”
Community connections, musically speaking
The Kentucky In Harmony: The Commonwealth Tour highlights The Louisville Orchestra’s commitment to making world-class music accessible to every corner of the commonwealth. Along with evening concerts, the orchestra hosts community events throughout the region, from school visits to workshops.
Catch a recap of the Louisville Orchestra’s 2024 In Harmony tour here on its YouTube channel.
Learn more about the tour and RSVP for upcoming concerts here.
