NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the region’s premier and GRAMMY Award-winning orchestra, presents a lineup of concerts showcasing accomplished women conductors and a Marvel Studio global phenomenon that explores themes of identity and heritage in Black culture. Conductor JERI LYNNE JOHNSON leads the LPO in Sibelius’ triumphant Symphony No. 5, conductor KALENA BOVELL makes her highly anticipated LPO debut to lead Tchaikovsky’s highly celebrated Symphony No. 4, and LPO takes audiences to the movies to relive the excitement of T’Challa becoming King of Wakanda in BLACK PANTHER as Ludwig Göransson’s Oscar® and Grammy-winning score is performed live to picture. For more information, visit www.lpomusic.com.
SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO. 5
Thursday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m.
Orpheum Theater
Jeri Lynne Johnson, conductor
Carlos Simon: The Block
Bonds: Montgomery Variations
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
Award-winning conductor and Founder and Artistic Director of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra returns to New Orleans to lead an evening of music by celebrated Black composers Carlos Simon and the late Margaret Bonds. Closing out the program is one of the late Romantic period’s greatest composers, Jean Sibelius, with his most well-known and celebrated Symphony No. 5.
TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NO. 4
Thursday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m.
Orpheum Theater
Kalena Bovell, conductor
James Lee III: Emotive Transformations
Jennifer Higdon: blue cathedral
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence winner and conductor Kalena Bovell makes her LPO debut in a program that beautifully explores journeys of loss and grief through melodies of hope. Featured composers are James Lee III who is celebrated for his “bright, pure music” by The Washington Post and 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music winner and composer Jennifer Higdon. Known as Tchaikovsky’s “Fate” symphony, his tumultuous and powerful Symphony No.5 closes the program.
BLACK PANTHER™ LIVE IN CONCERT
Saturday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m.
Mahalia Jackson Theater
Thiago Tiberio, conductor
The LPO will present Marvel Studios’ Black Panther in Concert featuring a screening of the complete film with the musical score performed live to the film. In 2018, Marvel Studios “Black Panther” quickly became a global sensation and culturalphenomenon, showing a new dimension of what Superhero films could be. Rolling Stone raved, “The film lights up the screen with a full-throttle blast of action and fun. That’s to be expected. But what sneaks up and floors you is the film’s racial conscience and profound, astonishing beauty.”
