Hot News November 2005

17 November 2005

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra update since Hurricane Katrina disaster

A brief history of this Orchestra may shed light on the nature of circumstance facing this major musical institution.  For many years,

this was named the New Orleans Symphony until it faced bankrupcy and closure due to lack of adequate funding support from the

City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana.   Upon this situation, Clarinetist John Reeks  (known to many Clarinetists as a

Director of the ClarinetFest 2001 in New Orleans)  had the Orchestra re-organized so that the Orchestra members themselves

controlled the direction of this Orchestra without the problems dwelt with before.  This departure made this orchestra unique in

that the musician loyalty was well established and made it possible to make ends meet-  until Katrina, which almost literally

destroyed the orchestra and the musicians themselves, being victim of total property loss and the trauma associated with the

disaster.  Many musicians lost their livelihoods and were forced to look for work outside the city and may never return.

The below e-mail recently received indicates that recovery may be on the way as the Orchestra regroups and hopefully will

fully recover and resume operations.

The LPO is alive and well.  We played a

benefit concert produced by the Nashville Symphony in

October, and then did the fantastically-successful concert

with the N.Y. Phil a few weeks ago.  This was an awesome

experience and it raised a lot of money for the orchestra.

We had a great time with the N.Y. clarinet section - all

great artists and very gracious hosts.  Attached is a photo

of my wife, Stephanie Thompson (LPO Second Clarinet) and

Mark Nuccio, Associate Solo/Eb Clarinetist in the New York

Philharmonic.

     Future plans for the LPO include a brief return to the

suburbs of New Orleans after Thanksgiving to play Holiday

Concerts, several operas in New Orleans in the Spring, then

a full-time return to the city in March. You can access our

website for more information at www.lpomusic.com.

     Steph and I are presently living in Ohio with her

parents.  Our beautiful house in New Orleans was wiped out,

along with everything we owned.  In addition to the LPO

gigs, we've been able to get work here in Ohio and

elsewhere.  We plan to return to New Orleans in January, to

rebuild our home and for me to start teaching at Loyola

University again.

     There was a nice article about us in the local

newspaper - follow this link:

http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/287622116190387.php

John Reeks