The Derby City Chamber Music Festival is where Beethoven and Bourbon collide, featuring some of the best young musicians both from around the country and right here in Louisville.  Founded in 2022 by Louisville Orchestra Principal Cellist Nicholas Finch, our first concerts will take place on May 20, 24, and 26 at Second Presbyterian Church. We hope to make this festival a dynamic place for innovation, cross-pollination, and musical exchange, to bring some of the nation’s greatest musical artists to Louisville and to present some of Louisville’s greatest artists to the wider musical world.

    We are absolutely thrilled for our line-up for the first year so far (with more to come). The artists include

     Pianist Joyce Yang, Second Prize Winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and international soloist

     Violinist Brendan Speltz and Cellist Brook Speltz, of the Escher String Quartet

     Violist Luke Fleming of the Manhattan Chamber Players

     Violinist Siwoo Kim, music director of the Vivo Music Festival

     The Louisville Orchestra’s Music director and Musical America’s “Conductor of the Year” Teddy Abrams, performing on the *first* instrument on which he became a wunderkind, clarinet

     Violinists Gabriel Lefkowitz and Julia Noone, Concertmaster and Associate Concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra

     Violist Evan Vicic, Assistant Principal Violist of the Louisville Orchestra

     Pianist Anna Petrova, professor of piano of the University of Louisville, guest artist with the Manhattan Chamber players, and member of the Carr-Petrova duo with violist Molly Carr,

      Cellist Cecilia Huerta-Lauf, former president of the Chamber Music Society of Louisville, and violist Laura Vicic, co-founders and co-directors of the NouLou Chamber Players

      Yours truly, Nicholas Finch, Principal Cellist of the Louisville Orchestra

      and more.

      I wanted to announce this festival first to all of you, the biggest supporters of the arts here in town, to encourage you to save the dates, and to offer you a first chance to reserve seats for these upcoming concerts. Tickets will be free, with a voluntary suggested donation, but we wanted to allow everyone to let us know whether they’d like us to reserve seats for them to ensure that they are guaranteed a spot for the upcoming concerts.

     We will have updated information very soon. Thank you so much – can’t wait to take you on this musical journey!

Always,

Nicholas Finch

Principal Cello, the Louisville Orchestra