LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma will have a five-day residency with the Louisville Orchestra this spring, including a special once-in-a-lifetime performance within the caverns of Mammoth Cave.
Yo-Yo Ma will join music director Teddy Abrams and the full orchestra for a performance including Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at the Kentucky Center’s Whitney Hall on April 27. The performance will be preceded by a gala.
Two concerts at Mammoth Cave in Rafinesque Hall on April 29 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (CDT) will feature music composed by Abrams and feature members of the Louisville Orchestra, the Louisville Chamber Choir, a solo percussionist and Yo-Yo Ma.
According to the Mammoth Cave website, Rafinesque Hall has no seating, low lighting and a temperature of 54 degrees for the performance, which is expected to last 45 minutes to an hour. Audience members must walk three-quarters of a mile to reach the performance area. The access trail includes a steep outdoor hillside to and from the cave’s natural entrance with a total of 130 stairs.
Mammoth Cave's Rafinesque Hall is a large room is named after Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, "Kentucky's eccentric naturalist", who was a professor of botany at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1810s-20s. Image courtesy of Mammoth Cave National Park on Facebook.
Tickets for the event will be distributed by lottery through Recreation.gov and people may apply for a chance at tickets beginning Monday, Jan. 30. The lottery closes at 10 a.m. on Feb. 5.
“Visitors have always been drawn to Mammoth Cave to experience its ancient stillness and expansiveness,” said Abrams in a news release. “It’s no surprise that this otherworldly treasure has inspired art of all forms, some of which can still be seen in the cave. Performing music in a cave where untold generations of people before us have created their own music connects us in a vital way to our past.”
Park Superintendent Barclay Trimble said in a release, “Music is universally loved and recognized as a way to connect and bring people together. Mammoth Cave has been a source of artistic inspiration for thousands of years and now through a composition created by Teddy Abrams and historic performance by Yo-Yo Ma, we can add another fantastic musical moment to the cave’s history.”
The Louisville Orchestra also announced “In Harmony – The Commonwealth Tour of the Louisville Orchestra” beginning in May, to include performances across state with Kentucky natives, including violinist Tessa Lark and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile. These concerts will include full orchestra performances in schools, community centers, and libraries in dozens of communities.
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