Louisville Orchestra Presents Jacob Duncan's World Premiere Program With Norah Jones, Jd Allen, And More... at The Kentucky Center

On March 13 & 14, the Louisville Orchestra presents its Festival of American Music 2 featuring Norah Jones performing world premiere music by Louisville-based composer and musician Jacob Duncan. Longtime-collaborators, Jones and Duncan have shared the stage and recording studio on many projects. This time Ms. Jones comes to Louisville to support the first performance of Duncan’s trio of symphonic poems that he wrote for vocal soloists, vocal ensemble, jazz sextet, and orchestra.

The program also features a roster of Louisville’s finest musicians and vocalists, with a web of connections to one another and to the Louisville Orchestra. Duncan’s frequent collaborators on the program include jazz vocalist Carly Johnson; pianist Gabe Evens, who had a work commissioned by the orchestra in last season’s Festival of American Music; tenor saxophonist JD Allen; and drummer Mike Hyman. Local hip hop artist Jecorey “1200” Arthur first collaborated with the orchestra in its sensational Independence Day waterfront concert in 2016, and was subsequently featured in the world premiere of Abrams’s genre-straddling tribute to Muhammad Ali, The Greatest. Vocalists Hayley DeWitt and Tyler Dippold were both featured in the orchestra’s mammoth performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS in 2015. Grammy-nominated Louisville music minister and gospel songwriter Jason Clayborn, recently signed by the legendary gospel label Tyscot Records, also wrote one of the songs on the “Gospel at the Symphony” program. JD Green is a classically-trained vocalist specializing in spirituals and roots music and the lead singer for the Louisville band The Afrophysicists. Last but not least, trumpeter Marlin McKay is Artist in Residence and Assistant Professor of Music at Kentucky State University. The program of Duncan’s music includes War Prayers, with text from a scathing indictment of war and its apologists by Mark Twain (“O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds”), and Somnambulist in America, based on the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes (“O let America be America again / The land that never has been yet / and yet must be”)....

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On March 13 & 14, the Louisville Orchestra presents its Festival of American Music 2 featuring Norah Jones performing world premiere music by Louisville-based composer and musician Jacob Duncan. Longtime-collaborators, Jones and Duncan have shared the stage and recording studio on many projects. This time Ms. Jones comes to Louisville to support the first performance of Duncan’s trio of symphonic poems that he wrote for vocal soloists, vocal ensemble, jazz sextet, and orchestra.

The program also features a roster of Louisville’s finest musicians and vocalists, with a web of connections to one another and to the Louisville Orchestra. Duncan’s frequent collaborators on the program include jazz vocalist Carly Johnson; pianist Gabe Evens, who had a work commissioned by the orchestra in last season’s Festival of American Music; tenor saxophonist JD Allen; and drummer Mike Hyman. Local hip hop artist Jecorey “1200” Arthur first collaborated with the orchestra in its sensational Independence Day waterfront concert in 2016, and was subsequently featured in the world premiere of Abrams’s genre-straddling tribute to Muhammad Ali, The Greatest. Vocalists Hayley DeWitt and Tyler Dippold were both featured in the orchestra’s mammoth performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS in 2015. Grammy-nominated Louisville music minister and gospel songwriter Jason Clayborn, recently signed by the legendary gospel label Tyscot Records, also wrote one of the songs on the “Gospel at the Symphony” program. JD Green is a classically-trained vocalist specializing in spirituals and roots music and the lead singer for the Louisville band The Afrophysicists. Last but not least, trumpeter Marlin McKay is Artist in Residence and Assistant Professor of Music at Kentucky State University. The program of Duncan’s music includes War Prayers, with text from a scathing indictment of war and its apologists by Mark Twain (“O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds”), and Somnambulist in America, based on the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes (“O let America be America again / The land that never has been yet / and yet must be”).

Teddy Abrams says, “I am blown away by Jacob Duncan’s vision. The music on this program deal with some of the most powerful and important issues of today. This is a deeply felt and intelligent response to challenging elements in our society.”

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