Louisville Orchestra Executive Director Andrew Kipe Renews 3-Year Contract
The Louisville Orchestra’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Executive Director Andrew Kipe has renewed a 3-year contract with the organization, after completing his third season with the orchestra. During Kipe’s tenure, the orchestra has enjoyed responsible financial stewardship and double-digit growth in contributions and ticket sales, plus an exceptional rebranding of the organization that has garnered international attention and set a new standard for orchestral community engagement.
Together with galvanizing young Music Director Teddy Abrams, currently in his third season, Kipe pursued a series of initiatives that have provided both stability and expansion for the Louisville Orchestra. They include the launch of the “Music Without Borders” neighborhood concerts, the garnering of corporate partnerships to offer a free outdoor concert on the 4th of July, the initiation of the LO’s participation in the “Thunder Over Louisville” soundtrack, the expansion of corporate sponsorship, the creation of new levels of individual donor support and recognition, and the launch of a new website with enhanced capability. In addition, he has built an administrative team of top industry managers, and is currently spearheading development of a five-year strategic plan for administration of the orchestra that engages members of the Board of Directors, orchestra members and staff. Kipe’s tenure has furthermore seen an overall increase of 82.5% in ticket income, and a 14% increase in contributions.
In addition to his duties with the Louisville Orchestra, Kipe is an active volunteer with non-profit organizations in the community, acting as a Mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters and Dare to Care. He also serves as a Board member for the Arts & Cultural Attractions Council and as a Greater Louisville Arts steering committee member for The Master Plan For The Arts development. He is also serving as a grant review panelist for the Kentucky Arts Council.
Jim Welch, retired Vice Chairman of the Brown-Forman Corporation and President of the LO Board, comments:
“Andrew Kipe uses his business acumen and extensive experience in outstanding service to the Louisville Orchestra. He keenly understands the needs of everyone vested in the organization, from Teddy Abrams and the musicians to the donors and patrons. Andrew’s expertise and his low-key personal style have been fundamental in professionally managing the exponential growth of the past few seasons. On behalf of the entire board, I’m pleased to have secured his service for the next three years with this contract.”
Additionally, Kimberly Tichenor, Co-Chair of the Louisville Orchestra Musician’s Committee, states:
“The Louisville Orchestra is indeed fortunate to have Andrew Kipe as CEO. His thoughtful approach and steady hand leading the Louisville Orchestra and its community at large are critical to rebuilding — and facilitating a bright future for — the organization. He has provided stability and leadership in day to day problem solving as well as the important strategic planning sessions to form the necessary cohesive long range plan for the future of the orchestra.”
Click here to read an article in the Courier-Journal about the revitalization of the Louisville Orchestra under Kipe and Abrams.
In the 2016-17 season, the Louisville Orchestra continues to present a range of eclectic and ambitious programs, always striving for maximum engagement with the Louisville community. On October 8, Music Director Teddy Abrams led an account of Mahler’s mighty “Resurrection” Symphony to open the season. Similarly large-scale immersive community collaborations have begun each of Abrams’s seasons in Louisville, and this one featured not only huge orchestral forces but also choir, organ, and two stellar vocal soloists: soprano Celena Shafer and mezzo J’nai Bridges. Upcoming highlights of the fall season include a sold-out performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and a celebration of “Shakespeare in Music” to accompany Louisville’s historic First Folio exhibition. In the spring, two concerts mark the LO’s second annual Festival of American Music. The programs will be led by guest conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, one of the great champions of new American composition and a key mentor to Abrams, and by the Louisville Music Director himself, who looks forward to premiering his own new composition, Ali Portrait, in tribute to the late legendary Louisville boxer. Grammy Award-winning young German violinist Augustin Hadelich also joins the orchestra for Britten’s elegiac Violin Concerto on an English-themed program next spring. As Time magazine recently put it: “A genre-defying orchestra in Louisville? Believe it. The locals do.”
About the Louisville Orchestra
Established in 1937 through the combined efforts of Louisville mayor Charles Farnsley and conductor Robert Whitney, the Louisville Orchestra is a cornerstone of the Louisville arts community. With the launch of First Edition Recordings in 1947, it became the first American orchestra to own a recording label. Six years later it received a Rockefeller grant of $500,000 to commission, record, and premiere 20th-century music by living composers, thereby earning a place on the international circuit and an invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall. In 2001, the Louisville Orchestra received the Leonard Bernstein Award for Excellence in Educational Programming, presented annually to a North American orchestra. Continuing its commitment to new music, the Louisville Orchestra has earned 19 ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and was also recently awarded large grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the National Endowment for the Arts, both for the purpose of producing, manufacturing and marketing its historic First Edition Recordings collections. Over the years, the orchestra has performed for prestigious events at the White House, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and on tour in Mexico City. The feature-length, Gramophone Award-winning documentary Music Makes a City (2010) chronicles the Louisville Orchestra’s founding years. More information is available at the orchestra’s newly redesigned website.
High-resolution photos are available here.
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Louisville-Orchestra
Louisville Orchestra: 2016-17 season
Except where noted, all concerts take place at Whitney Hall under the leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams.
Oct 8
“MAHLER SECOND”
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 in C minor (“Resurrection”)
Celena Shafer, soprano
J’nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano (LO debut)
Kent Hatteberg, chorus master
Oct 21, 22
“ALL DVOŘÁK”
DVOŘÁK: Slavonic Dances (Nos. 1, 7, 8)
DVOŘÁK: Cello Concerto (with Amit Peled, cello)
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 7
Donato Cabrera, conductor
Oct 30
Concert with Yo-Yo Ma
ELGAR: Cello Concerto (with Yo-Yo Ma, cello)
SEBASTIAN CHANG: Grand Passacaglia Fanfare (world premiere)
BACH: Prelude from Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor (arr. Abrams)
PIAZZOLLA: Libertango
TEDDY ABRAMS: Fiddling
DVOŘÁK: Movement 4 from Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Nov 18, 19
“SHAKESPEARE IN MUSIC”
PROKOFIEV: Selected excerpts from Romeo and Juliet
BERLIOZ: “Queen Mab Scherzo” from Roméo et Juliette
Jan 13, 14, 2017
“BRAHMS SECOND”
DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
MOZART: Sinfonia concertante
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2
Soloists from the Louisville Orchestra: Julia Noone, violin; Jack Griffin, viola
Vladimir Kulenovic, conductor
Jan 27, 28
“RACHMANINOFF THIRD”
ALEXANDER ZHURBIN: Current (Louisville premiere)
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 (with Andrew Tyson, piano)
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 11
Feb 25
“CLASSIC FILM & MUSIC”
DEBUSSY: Jeux
TEDDY ABRAMS: original pastiche score for Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin
March 10, 11
“SACRED + PROFANE”
Selections (with Jubilant Sykes, baritone)
March 25
“TIME FOR THREE”
Program TBA
March 31, April 1
“WALTON & BRITTEN”
BRITTEN: Violin Concerto (with Augustin Hadelich, violin)
WALTON: Selections from Façade 1 and 2
April 15
“Festival of American Music 1: American Journey”
JOHN ADAMS: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
GERSHWIN: An American in Paris
COPLAND: Orchestral Variations
MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS: Agnegram
MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS: Grace
Michael Tilson Thomas, guest conductor
April 28, 29
“Festival of American Music 2: All Concertos”
ANDREW NORMAN: Split (with Andrew Hsu, piano)
TEDDY ABRAMS: Ali Portrait (world premiere)
All dates, programs, and artists are subject to change.
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© 21C Media Group, October 2016
