ABRAMS NAMED ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL

Ojai Music Festival Board Chairman Jerry Eberhardt announced today the appointment of Teddy Abrams as Ojai’s next Artistic and Executive Director effective September 1, 2026, with his first Festival being the 81st Festival in June 2027. He will join the ranks of such distinguished predecessors as Ara Guzelimian, who concludes his tenure with the 2026 Festival, Thomas W. Morris, Ernest Fleischmann, and Lawrence Morton. Mr. Abrams’ collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival will be concurrent with his post as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra.

Teddy says, “The Ojai Music Festival is one of the brightest lights in the music world today. The Festival has always seemed like a magical and mythical beacon for me - this was where my mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas conducted in his early career (in addition to his own mentor, Ingolf Dahl); it is where Copland and Stravinsky shared their work, and it is the place that has brought to life the dreams of many of the greatest musicians of the past 80 years. The Ojai Music Festival represents creativity, adventure, and daring, all of which are the hardwired values of the Festival and its exceptionally loyal audiences; these are my deepest values too.”

Teddy continues, “It is an overwhelming honor to join the Ojai family as Artistic and Executive Director. I believe the Festival has consistently offered the world a glimpse into the future of music, and the Festival’s programming provides music lovers an opportunity to experience what is possible when creative inspiration is met with an affirmation. So much of this is due to the brilliance of Ojai’s many extraordinary leaders, including this most recent period of growth and success with Ara at the helm. I can’t wait to continue Ojai’s legacy of dreaming big, challenging the music world to think differently, and presenting art that brings the world to Ojai and Ojai to the world.”

Learn more here.

2025/26 Season Highlights

In 2025-26, Teddy Abrams embarks on his twelfth season as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra (LO), opening with two weeks devoted to the In Harmony Tour in September (Sep 11–13, 18–20). Abrams also conducts six LO Classics Series programs throughout the season. Highlights include the return of Yuja Wang performing Ligeti’s sole Piano Concerto and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Nov 21, 22); Abrams leading Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (Jan 16, 17); and the world premiere of former Creators Corps member Lisa Bielawa’s LO-commissioned Violin Concerto, written for soloist Tessa Lark, on a program with works by current Creators Corps members Anthony R. Green and Chelsea Komschlies and Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony (Oct 24, 25). 

Says Abrams: 

"The LO puts a strong emphasis on creative playing. People come to the Louisville Orchestra because they want to be a part of our aesthetic. It involves extraordinary risk taking, with interpretations that don’t necessarily fit into a mold and don’t just follow traditions. We allow the musicians to be super expressive – that’s one of our biggest values – we want them to feel that they have individual voices. There’s also a certain vibrancy to the way we play because of the different venues we’re constantly visiting; our musicians know how to play anywhere at the highest caliber."

For full season details, visit louisvilleorchestra.org.  

As a guest conductor, Abrams makes four debuts: with Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, where a fall performance of Mozart, Shostakovich, and Caroline Shaw (Nov 12, 13) is followed by a spring performance featuring music of Mozart, Korngold, Barber, and Samy Moussa (May 6, 7); with the Atlanta Symphony, where he conducts a program of Copland, Bernstein, Artie Shaw, and Valerie Coleman (Feb 12, 14); with the Nashville Symphony, another co-commissioner for Bates’s Silicon Hymnal, which Abrams reprises along with Mahler’s “Titan” Symphony (May 29–31); and with the BBC Symphony, where he conducts the world premiere of Mohican/Munsee-Lenape composer Brent Michael Davids’s Requiem for America: Singing for the Invisible People (May 17). Abrams also returns to the Minnesota Orchestra to conduct music of his mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas, as well as works by Copland, Bernstein, and Timo Andres (Dec 31, Jan 1).

Abrams’s incumbency as the Aspen Institute’s Harman/Eisner 2025–26 Artist in Residence began this past summer at the Aspen Ideas Festival and continues throughout the year. The year-long residency sees the conductor offering his artistic vision to various policy programs, events, leadership activities, and more, in Aspen, New York, Washington, DC and elsewhere. Drawing upon the Institute’s long-established convening power and association with ideas, values and leadership, Artists in Residence engage in discussions as thought leaders rooted in the arts.

ABRAMS EXTENDS CONTRACT WITH LO

Via press release this morning, Louisville Orchestra announced that Music Director Teddy Abrams has signed a new three-year contract extension beginning with the 2025–26 season. The agreement ensures Abrams will remain at the artistic helm of the LO through the 2027–28 season.

“Louisville and its Orchestra have shaped my life in ways I could not have imagined,” Abrams said. “Louisville is my home, and the Louisville Orchestra is my family. My colleagues in the Orchestra perform brilliantly, with tremendous passion and virtuosity. Together we’ve worked incredibly hard to raise the institution to an exceptional level where our musicality and creativity are understood locally and internationally. So many of the projects we’ve dreamed about are actually happening, and are demonstrating tremendous results that have significant implications for both classical music as an industry and performing arts organizations around the country. This is the moment we can fully inhabit the institution we’ve built together, and I am beyond excited to continue this adventure with our city, our state, and our spectacular Orchestra.”

For more details, visit louisvilleorchestra.org.

And don’t miss Abrams on WDRB Mornings speaking about how he is excited to stay in Louisville and is looking forward to his goals. Watch here.

2025 Summer Highlights

Teddy Abrams begins his summer and his time as the Aspen Institute’s Harman/Eisner 2025–26 Artist in Residence at the Aspen Ideas Festival from June 25 to July 1, where he will bring his perspective as an artist and thought leader to discussions on various policy programs, events, leadership activities, and more.

 

In early July, Abrams returns to Kentucky to conduct the next leg of the Louisville Orchestra’s statewide “In Harmony” tour, featuring an Americana-themed program.

 

July also sees Abrams guest conduct at North Carolina’s Brevard Music Center Summer Institute and Festival, joined by longtime friend and collaborator Yuja Wang for both Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto and Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand (July 23).

 

Abrams ends the summer with programs around New York: at the Chautauqua Institution, he leads an all-Beethoven program with pianist Alexander Kobrin as soloist (July 29); he conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s along with pianist Garrick Ohlsson in the Caramoor season finale concert (Aug 3); and he makes his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga Springs, joined by string trio Time For Three for a performance of Mason Bates’s Silicon Hymnal for string trio and orchestra, along with music of Barber and Copland (Aug 21). 

Also this summer, Abrams releases a solo piano album titled Preludes. He will perform the album in a livestreamed concert at the Brevard Festival (July 25), and selections from the album at (le) poisson rouge in New York City (July 31).

Read more about Abrams’s summer here.

Abrams announces Preludes album on New Amsterdam Records

Teddy Abrams recently announced his album Preludes will be released on July 25 via New Amsterdam Records. The 16 pieces that make up Preludes take inspiration from the canon of classical piano works such as Bach’s Inventions and Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, yet they are imbued with Abrams’s improvisatory compositional language and a unique depth in production. The album was developed in collaboration with co-producers Gabriel Kahane and Casey Foubert, who worked collaboratively with Abrams to enhance the sonic characteristics of each of the Preludes by treating each one in a unique way. “Our goal was to give every single prelude a special treatment that gets to its essence,” says Abrams. 

Alongside the announcement, Abrams releases two singles: ‘The Scream’ and ‘Toccata.’

Abrams will also perform the album in a livestreamed concert at the Brevard Festival (July 25), and selections from the album at (le) poisson rouge in New York City (July 31).

Review: Abrams's debut at the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Teddy Abrams made his conducting debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in performances March 13–16. Ray Chen, also making his debut,  performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, and Abrams finished out the program with Michael Tilson Thomas’s Whitman Songs, sung by Grammy-winning bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. 

Ahead of the concert, Boston Herald highlighted Abrams’ connection with his audience, noting, “Like his mentor, like Bernstein and Whitman, Abrams has pioneered engagement between artist and audience.”

Boston Classical Review commended the performance of MTT’s Whitman Songs: “That the maestro drew such sensitive playing from the BSO in this complicated, unfamiliar music speaks to his considerable abilities. The Songs’ unpredictable rhythmic schemes spoke securely. Balances, too, were smartly managed, this despite Tilson Thomas’s frequent low-tessitura writing for the soloist.”

The Boston Musical Intelligencer enthused, “Abrams led the orchestra with immaculate ensemble and in close sympathy with Chen’s interpretation.”

Writing about the violin concerto, Arts Fuse noted, “Abrams led an accompaniment that was sensitive to the soloist’s every turn. He laid back on the tempo to allow phrases to breathe, but pushed the throttle down when he needed to burn rubber. The audience rewarded the musicians with a rousing ovation — even after the first movement. By the concerto’s end, everyone was on their feet.” Of the remainder of the evening, the review continued, “The second half of the program showcased the conductor’s ability to work with greater nuance and sensitivity. Abrams cast a commanding presence on the podium. Grand, sweeping gestures reflected his feel for the big picture, though details emerged with just the right amount of flair.”

Aspen Institute names Classical Conductor Teddy Abrams 2025 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence

The Aspen Institute Arts Program announced that  Teddy Abrams will serve as its 2025/26 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence. Abrams will offer his artistic vision to various policy programs, events, leadership activities, and more in Aspen, New York, Washington D.C., and elsewhere.

Each year, an artist or cultural leader is selected as a Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence for a year-long exploration of their artistry and to lend their perspective in addressing major social and civic issues. Drawing upon the Institute’s long-established convening power and association with ideas, values and leadership, Artists in Residence engage in discussions rooted in the arts as thought leaders.

Abrams said, ““I am thrilled and honored to serve as the Aspen Institute’s Artist in Residence this year. Connecting music with diverse disciplines and collaborating with leaders in different fields has long been a passion of mine, and Aspen provides the ideal platform for interdisciplinary thinking and bold creative ideas to flourish.”

“Teddy Abrams uses his music to make people connect, reflect, and wonder,” said Michael D. Eisner, Institute Trustee and chair of its Committee on the Arts. “I am excited to share his talents, vision, and creativity with the entire Aspen Institute community.”

Prior to Teddy Abrams’s appointment, other recent Harman/Eisner Artists in Residence include Hank Willis Thomas, Simon Godwin, Marin Alsop, Oskar Eustis, Rita Moreno, and Edmund de Waal. Previous participants include Lil Buck, Ava DuVernay, Renée Fleming, Theaster Gates, Frank Gehry, Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Anna Deavere Smith, Robert Spano, Julie Taymor, and Alfre Woodard.

Information about events featuring Abrams, including participation at the annual Aspen Ideas Festival, will be announced throughout the year.

Abrams included in Louisville's Hometown Heroes 2.0 Class of 2025

The Greater Louisville Pride Foundation (GLPF) announced its new Hometown Heroes 2.0 Class of 2025 and Teddy Abrams is included among the seven nationally, and internationally, renowned Louisvillians who will be honored with a larger-than-life banner displayed on a city building.

"As with all of our hometown heroes, Class of 2025 honorees possess the grit, resilience, talent, determination, and 'can do spirit' our city is known for," Mike Sheehy, president of GLPF, said.  

Watch the clip below and read here for more.

Teddy Abrams Cincinnati May Festival performance of Michael Gordon’s “Natural History" Included in NYT’s list of “Best Classical Performances of 2024”

Michael Gordon’s “Natural History,” conducted by Teddy Abrams at the Cincinnati May Festival this past spring, was selected by New York Times critic Zachary Woolfe as one of the best classical music performances of 2024.  A collaboration with the Native American ensemble Steiger Butte Drum, the work is described by Woolfe as “Unsettled and unsettling, both celebratory and threatening, imposing and ultimately harmonious, it is the sound of a cultural conversation that is still, after centuries, in its nascent stages.” Teddy conducted the world premiere of Natural History at Crater Lake in southern Oregon as part of the 2016 Britt Music and Festival, which commissioned it to celebrate the centennial of the National Park System. That performance was captured live on a recording on the Cantaloupe label available on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services. Read the full New York Times list here.

Abrams Interviewed for "I Care If You Listen"

Teddy Abrams was recently interviewed by A. Kori Hill for I Care If You Listen in advance of his performance with Ray Chen at the Curtis Institute of Music, for a program dominated by Curtis alumni.

Speaking about his past collaborations with Curtis alums, Abrams says: “We don’t necessarily make music the same way or see music the same way, but these folks and I have such a deep relationship to musical values that we have remained regular collaborators and very close friends since [our time at Curtis]… I work with these folks every year, multiple times a year, and that continues because we forged a deep bond for what we care about – not just because we like playing music together, but why we play music together.”

In addition to the Barber violin concerto, Abrams will lead the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in performances of TJ Cole’s Death of the Poet and George Walker’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, closing out with the Third Symphony by Aaron Copland – a mentor to another Curtis alum, Leonard Bernstein.

Read the full article here.

Out Now: Abrams featured on "The Muse in Music" podcast

On September 30, Teddy Abrams is the featured guest on Dan Perttu’s podcast The Muse in Music. Perttu speaks with Abrams about resident composers and how they can strengthen orchestras and the Louisville Orchestra’s long and rich relationship with programming contemporary music. They discuss the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps and how the program enhances the orchestra's relationship to the community.

Listen to the full episode here and on Apple podcasts.

Review: Teddy Abrams at the Hollywood Bowl

On August 22, Teddy Abrams conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in an all-Stravinsky program that included the composer’s arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner, Circus Polka, Violin Concerto in D Major, and The Rite of Spring. This was a return engagement for Abrams, who led the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl the previous season.  

Bachtrack praised the evening, saying of Abrams: “...his vital interpretations brought to the fore facets of the composer often overlooked.”  

SF Classical Voice noted the performance included “a cinematic moment beyond anything you’d ever hear in the best IMAX theater.”

In May 2025, Abrams will lead the LA Phil joined by soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in a program that includes Gershwin, Strauss, and Caroline Shaw’s The Observatory at Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

Read the full reviews from Bachtrack and SF Classical Voice.

Summer Highlights

On June 27, Teddy Abrams begins the summer season with Chris Thile at the Aspen Music Festival conducting a program that includes the composer’s “ATTENTION! A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra.” In July, Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra resume their statewide “In Harmony” tour, which was recently renewed for another two seasons of funding by the Kentucky legislature. 


Abrams begins the month of August at Carnegie Hall, leading NYO2 in a program featuring works by Bernstein, Tchaikovsky, Stavinsky, and a world premiere by Jasmine Barnes to kick off the start of World Orchestra Week (WOW!). Following that concert, the entire program tours to Dallas for a reprise performance (August 6). Later in the month, Abrams returns to the Hollywood Bowl to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, on a program with Agnegram by Abrams’s mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas (August 22).

Renewed Funding for Abrams & Louisville Orchestra “In Harmony” Tour

Teddy Abrams and The Louisville Orchestra have received a $4.3 million funding allocation from the Kentucky State Legislature to support the continuation of “In Harmony – The Commonwealth Tour” through 2024 to 2026. The landmark initiative, which began in 2022, has already made a profound impact, reaching over 27,000 Kentuckians across 38 counties through more than 125 events, and is now set to extend its reach further into the heart of Kentucky communities. This funding will enable the orchestra to deepen community engagement and enrich the cultural fabric across urban and rural divides throughout the state. 

Reflecting on past tours, music director Teddy Abrams shared his excitement for the future, stating, “The past two years of touring the Commonwealth of Kentucky have been transformative and affirming for the Louisville Orchestra and for me as an artist. We believe that this work is the core function of a modern cultural institution, and it has become our dream to continue this program far into the future.”

Learn more about the renewed funding and how it ensures the tour’s continued success here.

Conductor’s Rail in the Press

The April issue of Town & Country features the new conductor’s rail and podium designed by artist Joseph Walsh for Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra. The article spotlights “26 Rooms Shaping Culture,” and includes the new podium and rail, which will make its debut on April 18 at a special gala performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 led by Abrams. Read the full article here.

A feature on the conductor’s rail also appears in the May issue of Dezeen.

Artist-Designed Conductor’s Rail & Podium To Be Unveiled at Gala Concert

Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra are the recipients of a one-of-a-kind, sculptural conductor’s rail and podium from Ireland’s Joseph Walsh Studio. Completed in September 2023 after a year in the making, the ash stage-piece was created expressly for Abrams and the orchestra and given to them as an expression of gratitude to the Louisville-based benefactors and arts supporters who first introduced Walsh to the conductor. The new rail and podium will be unveiled to the public at a special gala concert on April 18, with Walsh in attendance. Celebrating Abrams’s tenth anniversary with the orchestra, the concert will feature their performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. More information about the event is available here.

Says Abrams: 

“Joseph Walsh is one of the great artists and artisans of our time; he is also a truly generous, thoughtful, and deeply curious creative individual. It is from his generosity of spirit and talent that this extraordinary podium and rail came to be. The piece is exquisite and unique – it lives and breathes with the same fluidity as a conductor and with the same energy as live music. Joseph’s insight into the physicality of music-making is manifest in his brilliant and beautiful work. It is an exceptional honor to bring Joseph’s piece to Louisville, and I can hardly believe that I will have the privilege of performing in concert with his art.”

Government Praise for Abrams and the LO

Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra (LO) have received a wave of recent praise from local and national government organizations for the success of their “In Harmony” statewide tour and GRAMMY win for work on Yuja Wang’s album The American Project. A letter from Senator Mitch McConnell (R) congratulated them on their GRAMMY win, writing “This distinction serves as a fitting recognition of your talent, perseverance, and dedication to artistic collaboration and further establishes Louisville as a vibrant creative community. I'm confident that the Commonwealth will continue to benefit from your artistic excellence, and I wish you the best in your future projects.” Also in recognition of their GRAMMY, the Kentucky Senate passed a resolution “in honor, celebration, and with the utmost pride in Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra,.” 

In addition to being awarded a key to the city from Mayor Craig Greenberg (D), Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) made a proclamation in honor of Abrams and the LO at the orchestra’s Frankfort show on February 28th . Earlier in the month, Abrams received a certificate of special congressional recognition from Representative Morgan McGarvey (D).

Louisville Orchestra Announces 2024-25 Season

The Louisville Orchestra (LO) and Music Director Teddy Abrams are thrilled to announce the lineup for their 2024–25 season. Season highlights include Abrams leading Barber’s Violin Concerto with soloist Ray Chen, along with the world premiere of Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra and works from the Creators Corps (Nov 15 & 16); Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with soloist Midori along with Strauss’s monumental An Alpine Symphony (Jan 17 & 18); Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Louisville Chamber Choir (Oct 19); and a staged production of Viktor Ullmann’s one-act chamber opera Der Kaiser Von Atlantis (Jan 25). 

In the spring, the second annual Creators Fest returns with Abrams leading world premieres from each of the three participants in the newest incarnation of the Louisville Orchestra’s groundbreaking Creators Corps initiative – Baldwin Giang, Brittany J. Green and Oswald Huỳnh (May 9 & 10). The season is rounded out by a series of classic films with orchestral accompaniment including Nosferatu, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2 and The Nightmare Before Christmas; Coffee Series concerts on Fridays at 11am; performances at Indiana University Southeast’s Ogle Center in New Albany, Indiana; a Pops Series led by Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt; and much more.  

Abrams, who is ready to embark on his eleventh season with the orchestra, elaborates:

 “Our 2024-2025 season is a demonstration of the Louisville Orchestra’s values and unique capabilities. Our programming will showcase the extraordinary musicianship and virtuosity of our musicians in the widest range of repertoire. This breadth of music-making is a core part of our mission: we want to bring the world’s greatest music to Louisville while demonstrating that Louisville has the world’s greatest musical talent at home, too. From Alpine Symphony to Michael Tilson Thomas’ Meditations on Rilke, from Midori and Ray Chen to world premieres by our very own Creators Corps, we are offering a season of music that will both reflect and strengthen our community. While each program in our season explores powerful and profound narratives and subtexts, every concert will be a celebration of our orchestra, of Louisville, and of the universality of music itself." 

Visit louisvilleorchestra.org for more information.

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