Sixth Annual Concert with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
“Becoming American: The Musical Journey”
Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 • 7:30 p.m.
St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square
Free and open to the public

"Becoming American: The Musical Journey" is the sixth concert in the "Musical Louisiana: America’s Cultural Heritage" series. Presented annually by The Historic New Orleans Collection and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the series is dedicated to the study of Louisiana’s contributions to the world of classical music. The musical tastes of New Orleans—a city well known for introducing French and Italian opera to the United States—knew no geographic or stylistic boundaries. The city’s love of the musical palettes of English, French, German, Italian, Mexican, Portuguese, Slovakian, and Spanish composers contributed to the development of America’s music. The LPO’s Carlos Miguel Prieto will lead an exploration of New Orleans’s musical heritage with works by Beethoven (Germany), Bellini (Italy), Buck (America), Gretry (France), Martin y Soler (Spain), Mendelssohn (Germany), Rosas (Mexico), and New Orleans’s own Jelly Roll Morton.

In 2007 The Historic New Orleans Collection and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra introduced a program to highlight Louisiana’s classical musical legacy. “Musical Louisiana: America’s Cultural Heritage” is both an educational experience for elementary students and a concert for music lovers.

In addition to the performance, the series also provides educational packets to more than 2,000 fifth- and eighth-grade teachers in Louisiana's public schools. The packets, which consist of a CD, DVD, classroom activities, and lesson plans, are also distributed to members of the Louisiana Association of Symphony Orchestras in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Shreveport, and Monroe.

Since the program's inception, the project has garnered both local and national recognition. In 2007 the presentation "A New Orleanian in Paris: Ernest Guiraud, Friends, and Students" was nominated for a Big Easy Award. In 2007 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation selected the project for the New Strategies Lab, a program to foster strategic innovation in U.S. orchestras. The 2008 presentation, "Music of the Mississippi," won the 2008 Big Easy Awards for Arts Education. The 2009 and 2010 concerts received grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities for support of the printing of the concert program. In 2010 a National Endowment for the "Arts Access to Artistic Excellence" was received. The 2011 program, "Identity, History, Legacy: The Free People of Color" was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts "American Masterpieces" grant.