Music Makes a City

Q&A with Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler at the 7pm screening on Monday, March 19!

Beginning in the 1940s, the Louisville Orchestra set out to commission original music written by composers from around the world. The result was an unmatched contribution to the spirit of contemporary music. Using hundreds of archival photos and footage, stunningly filmed scenery of Louisville and the Ohio River, and music selections from the orchestra’s commissions, Music Makes A City poetically illustrates this challenging and inspiring journey. Interviews with surviving composers, musicians, and Louisvillians who experienced the orchestra first-hand, weave the ground-breaking tale that resulted in over 120 original commissioned works and 400 world premiers, making Louisville, Kentucky and its enterprising citizens the catalyst for a defining moment in the history of 20th-century music.

In conjunction with the March 15 screening of new work by Jerome Hiler and Nathaniel Dorsky, we present a week-long engagement of this celebrated but underseen documentary about a unique chapter in American history. Jerome Hiler was co-director and co-cinematographer, Nathaniel Dorsky a key editor, and there are exceptional lyrical passages of Hiler’s camerawork and Dorsky’s editing in tandem. Hiler also wrote the plain-spoken, deeply stirring narration read by Will Oldham.
 


"Anyone who has wondered what happened to the pure documentary will be struck by the simple elegance and beauty of this scintillating film about an orchestra that pulled the city of Louisville, Kentucky out of the mire of a devastating flood to the forefront of contemporary music in mid-20th-century America. The film is a feast of little known musical gems woven into a tableau of unforgettable images surrounding a tale as wild and exciting as any action picture." —George Csicsery 

This event is free and open to the public on a first come, first serve basis.

Series: Music Makes a City

Venue: Film Center Amphitheater