NouLou Chamber Players

For decades, the city of Louisville and the Louisville Orchestra were among the most prolific commissioners of new music, issuing hundreds of recordings of the best composers of their time. This album continues that tradition, with recordings and premieres of three new cello concertos, in a collaboration between Louisville Orchestra principal cellist Nicholas Finch, maestro Jason Seber, and the NouLou Chamber Players, Louisville's premiere chamber music collective, founded by Cecilia Huerta-Lauf and Laura De St. Croix-Vicic.

Finch was approached by composer Dorian Wallace in 2017 ago to collaborate on his cello concerto "Manusa", a haunting work written in memory of a tragic killing of journalists abroad with a structure based on the five stages of grief. As a result, Finch was approached for new commissions by two composers - Alyssa Weinberg, currently professor at the Peabody Conservatory, Juilliard PreCollege, and a recent PhD candidate at Princeton University who has had her music performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, and more - and Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, one of the lead composers and arrangers for Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. Weinberg wrote "Caligo" a textural exploration of a musical cloud, and Zhurbin wrote "CelloStatus", a musical exploration of the role of social media in today's society.  

We assembled a first-class team - a first-class orchestra featuring musicians from the Lousiville Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Boston-based Chamber Orchestra "A Far Cry", and the Fort Wayne Symphony Orchestra, along with a first-class maestro, Jason Seber. We also assembled a first-class production and engineering team, including the head of audio at the Aspen Music Festival and the head of audio at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. And finally, we have partnered with a first-class record label "Bright Shiny Things", a label now overflowing with major industry awards for its albums. We have everything we need to produce this album and make it competitive for major industry awards - the last thing we need is you to help us get over the top for the final phase of this amazing project!

Take a listen below to these amazing new works. We are confident these works have all of the craft and all of the passion to become great works in the standard repertoire.

Lev Zhurbin - "Cello Status" 

Alyssa Weinberg - "Caligo" 

Dorian Wallace - "Manusa"



PROJECTED BUDGET - 

Bright Shiny Things (record label), production and promotion - $10,490

Remaining Production Expenses (producer, engineer, musicians) - $1510

We managed to get over every major hump thus far - raising what we needed to commission the works and assemble an orchestra and a world-class production team to record and mix these amazing new works. We are so close - now all we need is your help to raise the last remaining $12,000 to make and promote this recording and finish paying our final expenses.

Thank you so much for your consideration!

PERKS -

Robert Whitney Level ($10,000+) -

Album named after you, plus all perks below

Diaghilev Level ($5000-$10,000) -

Private recital in your home, industry awards invitation, signed copy of album, exclusive album release party, zoom Q&A with composers

Strauss Level ($1000-$5000) -

Exclusive group recital, signed copy of album, exclusive Album release party

Mahler Level ($500-$1000) -

Signed copy of album, exclusive album release party

Stravinsky Level ($100-$500)

Copy of album, public album release event

Schoenberg Circle ($50-$100)

Physical copy of album

Webern Level ($10-$50)

Digital copy of album