Artist Profile: Teddy Abrams on Conducting from Louisville to Boston

Conductor, performer, and Grammy Award winner Teddy Abrams is making his official debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on March 13.

Abrams — who is the Music Director for the Louisville Orchestra — is currently in his 11th season with the ensemble. Prior to his 2014 appointment as Music Director, he also served as Assistant Conductor of the Detroit Symphony from 2012 to 2014 and worked with New World Symphony for three years as an assistant conductor and conducting fellow. Prior to this, Abrams was a mentee of Michael Tilson Thomas, former assistant conductor and pianist of the BSO, before studying conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Aspen Music Festival. Abrams was also the youngest student ever to be accepted into both of these conducting programs.

In between rehearsals to prepare for his debut in Boston, Abrams sat down with The Crimson to discuss his work with the Louisville Orchestra, conducting the BSO, and other impassioned projects within his musical career.

Abrams’ work with the Louisville Orchestra has fostered a large community in Kentucky and created significant growth for the organization. The Louisville Orchestra was created in 1937 and has remained an important representation of an American symphony orchestra. However, there were some obstacles prior to Abrams’ arrival.

“When I started at the Louisville Orchestra, they had just come out of a very tough moment,” Abrams said. “They had been bankrupt and on strike in the years leading up to my first season as Music Director.”

Abrams also described what an amazing opportunity being Music Director for the ensemble has been, allowing him to “build a relationship” with audiences while redefining the “dynamic” nature of an orchestra.

“It meant that we could try things and experiment, and that’s a very rare moment for institutions like an orchestra,” said Abrams.

Another key aspect of his work with the Louisville Orchestra focused on the community and culture that the orchestra allows for.

“In Louisville, you have the opportunity for an organization like an orchestra to be central to culture as opposed to peripheral,” Abrams said. “That’s one of the big issues with people who go into sectors of the entertainment industry that aren’t generally a part of the national and international conversation.”

Abrams described the opportunity to work with the BSO as something “every conductor” imagines. However, returning to Boston has also been a very important to Abrams because he studied at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, which allows students to take lessons with members of the BSO and attend their shows.

“It’s the place where I found my community of other serious classical and orchestral musicians,” Abrams said.

The preparation process for a guest conductor is relatively quick, involving a few rehearsals over the course of a week.

“Most people who are not aware of the process of preparing a week with an orchestra as a guest conductor are shocked to find out how the concerts are actually made,” said Abrams.

Abrams also expanded on the music that the BSO will be playing for the concert. The set includes Tchaikovsky’s well-known “Violin Concerto,” “Whitman Songs” by Abrams’ mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, and Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s “West Side Story. The performance will also feature two soloists, violinist Ray Chen and bass-baritone Dashon Burton. The selections were chosen by Abrams and key BSO administrative staff.

Describing the music, Abrams touched on the “energetic” and “hopeful and joyous” nature of Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto,” which is followed by a “unique voice” found in “Whitman Songs.” Concluding the performance will be the Symphonic Dances, which Abrams describes as “true dance music.”

“Both Ray and Dashon are exceptional musicians,” Abrams said. “I’ve been very lucky to work with them.”

Both Chen and Abrams previously studied at the Curtis Institute of Music together.

“We actually went to the Curtis Institute of Music and started the same year in 2005, and I’ve been so proud to watch Ray’s development as a musician,” said Abrams.

He also noted Burton’s incredible ability as a singer, describing him as someone who can “do it all.”

However, this concert is only one of the many projects on which Abrams is currently doing. In addition to his guest concert with the BSO, he is currently working on a musical narrating the life of boxer Muhammad Ali and the Louisville Orchestra touring program, among other projects.

“We lobbied the Kentucky General Assembly — our legislature — to fund a concept that would bring our music to every part of Kentucky to try and bridge the urban-rural divide and find common ground as Americans in a moment where that’s not happening enough,” he said.

Talking about his approach to his multiple projects, Abrams said that practicing several different parts of music was important for his own “musical health,” which expanded on his overarching approach to music.

“I find that conducting, compos[ing], and performing as an instrumentalist are all connected together,” he said.

Overall, he described his experience working with the BSO as highly positive, with the orchestra holding a “special place” in his heart.

“My job is to help them play their best. It’s not to impose something on the Boston Symphony. It’s to hear the Boston Symphony and help craft the very best thing that we can make together,” Abrams said.

Abrams will conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky, Tilson Thomas, and Bernstein, running at Symphony Hall from March 13 to 16.

—Staff writer Neeraja S. Kumar can be reached at neeraja.kumar@thecrimson.com.