KLS Holiday Concerts

Keep Louisville Symphonic invites you to attend its upcoming “Holiday Concerts”, conducted by Jason Seber, on December 16, 19 and 20. On the program will be holiday favorites from Tchaikovsky to Leroy Anderson. These concerts will be free admission, and donations will be accepted at the door. The concert dates and times are as follows:

Friday, December 16, 2011, 7:00pm St. Mary’s Church, New Albany, IN

Monday, December 19, 2011, 7:00pm Ballard High School

Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 7:00pm Broadway Baptist Church, 4000 Brownsboro Rd.

Louisville Orchestra Musicians Offer Enormous Concessions toward Agreement, but are Rebuffed Within Moments

Oct. 3, 2011 Contact: Kim Tichenor
For Immediate Release 502-418-7210

The Louisville Orchestra management rejected a musician contract proposal Monday evening that would have sliced $750,000 from the existing contract’s musician costs, then maintain a pay freeze for the next five years. It would have cut the number of weeks in the orchestra’s season, and the number of full-time orchestra musicians, all terms the management demanded in a contract settlement.

The revised proposal would have cut the number of musicians to 57, from 71 previously required, and cut the number of weeks in the 2011-12 season to 30, from the 37 weeks in the expired contract. The musicians’ proposal agreed to freeze pay at 2010-11 weekly pay levels for five years for the 60 full-time musicians who would staff the orchestra from September 2012 through May 2016. The cost difference between the musicians’ and the managements’ proposal is less than $190,000 for the contract’s first year, in a total projected budget of over $5 million.

Progress Toward Live Music For Kentucky Opera’s “Carmen”

Despite continuing problems to resolve a contract between the management of the Louisville Orchestra and its musicians, the Kentucky Opera’s “Carmen” performances will likely have the world-class orchestral ensemble that its patrons have enjoyed for many years.

Louisville’s professional symphonic musicians, whose non-profit organization, Keep Louisville Symphonic, has organized numerous successful performances since the Louisville Orchestra asked for federal bankruptcy protection in December 2010, has offered to perform for the Kentucky Opera.  Earlier this month, the orchestra’s management had cancelled all the orchestra’s performance commitments for September and October, which included the Kentucky Opera’s opening production.

LEO article on violist Jonathan Mueller

The Louisville Eccentric Observer recently published an article “A&E Guide 2011: Spotlight on Jonathan Mueller” about Louisville Orchestra (LO) violist Jonathan Mueller and Keep Louisville Symphonic (KLS). You can read the article here.

The article touches on recent events surrounding the LO’s bankruptcy proceedings, the unfortunate layoff of the 71 LO musicians, and the efforts of KLS to keep Symphonic Music alive in Louisville. Here is an excerpt:

“In the months preceding the layoffs, as the orchestra’s future grew increasingly uncertain, a group of musicians banded together to form Keep Louisville Symphonic (KLS), a grassroots organization aimed at maintaining community commitment to orchestral music. “We’re trying to show the Louisville Orchestra board that there is excitement and there needs to be excitement about symphonic music in Louisville,” Mueller says.

With concerts throughout the city, KLS raises awareness for symphonic music and the essential place it holds in the Louisville arts scene. “I think the (Louisville Orchestra) bankruptcy has soured people’s opinion about symphonic music and about the whole orchestra in general,” Mueller says. “(There) are many people in this city that love symphonic music, and their love for symphonic (music) hasn’t dwindled, but their love for the Louisville Orchestra probably has. And so we’re trying to keep that energy and positivity going even in these nasty bankruptcy proceedings.”

Keep Louisville Symphonic Concert

Family Concert 7:30pm
Instrumental petting zoo 6:30pm

Northeast Christian Church, 9900 Brownsboro Rd., Louisville, KY

Jason Seber, conductor

Admission is FREE!

Louisville Youth Orchestra’s music director Jason Seber will conduct Keep Louisville Symphonic in a program designed for the whole family. At 6:30pm before the concert begins, orchestra musicians along with Miles Davis from Miles Ahead Music will be on Northeast’s ”Main Street” for an instrument “petting zoo.”

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Louisville Orchestra No Longer Employs Any Musicians!

In what the Louisville Orchestra musicians’ committee called a “suicidal act,” the Louisville Orchestra’s management will employ no musicians June 1. The musicians were unable to accept an offer that would drastically cut all players’ salaries and convert many to part-time status, stripping them of health insurance and fringe benefits. Meanwhile, the orchestra’s management continues to press for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to accomplish its same funding goals, filing a reorganization disclosure plan Tuesday in federal court.

Call to the Post: A Symphonic Tribute to Kentucky

Keep Louisville Symphonic proudly presents its debut recording “Call to the Post: A Symphonic Tribute to Kentucky”, now available for purchase on iTunes.

Will KLS Support the Louisville Orchestra?

At this point, Keep Louisville Symphonic is not able to support the Louisville Orchestra.

Why?

Unfortunately, the Louisville Orchestra’s mission and vision do not at this point encompass full-size symphony orchestra performances of the highest caliber, which is what Keep Louisville Symphonic stands for. We hope that the work of KLS will help the Louisville Orchestra realize that the future of symphonic music in Louisville demands strong leadership and artistic excellence.

Will KLS ever support the Louisville Orchestra?

Yes, We are undertaking this because we realize we must be proactive in finding a solution for our future. Rather than in any way to create division between the board and the musicians, we hope to inspire change and reconciliation by demonstrating our commitment to that future. We have always believed, and still do, that the solution to our great organization’s crisis can be found with the right leadership, enthusiasm and planning.