The Louisville Orchestra Presents Slatkin Conducts Elgar

To kick off the New Year, your Louisville Orchestra brings internationally acclaimed conductor, Leonard Slatkin to The Kentucky Center on Saturday, January 12 at 8PM. Mr. Slatkin will conduct the LO in Edward Elgar’s most famous works, Enigma Variations.

Single tickets start at $27* and are available by calling 502.584.7777 or by visiting LouisvilleOrchestra.org.

Cindy McTee, Mr. Slatkin’s wife, is an accomplished composer and her work, Double Play will open the concert followed by a piece by Leonard Slatkin himself, Kinah (Hebrew for “elegy” or “dirge”), which was written in memory of his parents. The program is rounded out by a rousing work for ballet, The Incredible Flutist by Walter Piston.

The Enigma Variations is the work that put Elgar on the musical map. He had made his living as a musical jack-of-all-trades, playing several instruments, conducting, teaching, and composing. His early works brought him scant recognition; it was not until he composed his Enigma Variations that he came into his own as a composer of quality; one whom Richard Strauss would call “the first English progressivist.”

As the title implies, the work is a theme-and-variations, but with a twist: the theme is never heard—hence the “enigma.” What’s more, each variation is also a portrait of one of his friends. Each was cryptically titled with a set of initials or a name, and it was not until after Elgar’s death that all of the identities became known.

The featured LO musician for this program is LO’s own incredible flutist, Kathy Karr who will talk with 90.5 WUOL’s Daniel Gilliam at the LO Concert Talk at 6:45PM prior to the concert.