Arguably, the deepest tie is the music – the auditory traditions that evoke emotion and pageantry throughout the city on that first Saturday each May. Indeed, if an official soundtrack existed for the Kentucky Derby, the University of Louisville would appear several times in the credits.

Take, for instance, the event’s signature opening of “My Old Kentucky Home.”

The rendition is performed by our very own Marching Cards. It has been since 1936, in fact, when the group was first recognized as “The Official Band of the Kentucky Derby.” The lyrics, meanwhile, are brought to life by the UofL Cardinal Singers.

A few years ago, a�� experience is like: “I’ve interviewed Kentuckians who haven’t set foot in the state for 30 years who still stand in front of their televisions and weep when they hear the woodwinds and brass instruments strike the first few notes of ‘My Old Kentucky Home.’ The lyrics tell us that there’ll be hard times, by and by. But at the crescendo, it’s as if 150,000 voices nudge us to weep no more.”��

Those are our students playing those woodwinds and brass instruments and��creating such sentiment, courtesy of Stephen Collins Foster’s lyrics. Such an experience is not lost on the group.

“I’m extremely proud to be a part of this tradition. Some of the most important work the CMB does is that which impacts the Louisville community. To represent not only the city, but the state at such a highly respected sporting event is truly humbling. Further, this experience creates a unique bond between current and former members of the CMB that no other marching band can relate to. Like the rest of the band, my memory of this Derby will last a lifetime,” said Michael LaRoche, a Marching Card and mechanical engineering major.

“Hands down my favorite part is hearing everyone sing at Churchill Downs. When the song begins, voices are a bit subdued, but then a strong rise of voices is heard on ‘Weep no more my lady.’ It is a powerful and unifying event that makes you feel connected to people all over the world and so proud to live in Kentucky,” Amy Acklin, director of the Cardinal Marching Band, said in 2019.

So important is this tradition to our students that when the Derby was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UofL drum major Natalie Humble recruited marching band students from schools across the state to record a virtual version of “My Old Kentucky Home.”

Meanwhile, that emotion shifts to excitement whenever the sound of the trumpet rises above the crowd to beckon horses to the starting gate for each race. The signature “Call to the Post” has been used at racetracks since the 1860s, . At the Derby, it’s performed by UofL School of Music alum Steve Buttleman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance in 2007.

The fulltime bugler, who also kicks off the day with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” performs at hundreds of special events throughout the year. But it’s his Derby assignment that stands out most.

“There isn’t another office in the world with a view like mine. I step out onto the balcony and I am looking across the racetrack at the Twin Spires … I never take what I do for granted,” he told the Courier Journal.

Derby Week is here, which means our city is in the spotlight of a global stage once again. And positioned in that metaphoric orchestra pit, ready to set the tone for the festivities, are our fellow Cardinals. , for a Marching Cards takeover from��LaRoche.

Check out a performance from the Marching Cards and the Cardinal Singers from a few years ago:

The , an unconventional piece embracing a vast range of musical styles from Tudor-era ballads to modern electronic sound layering, was commissioned by Vienna State Opera and premiered on its stage in 2019.

drew inspiration for the three-hour work from “Orlando: A Biography,” Woolf’s 1928 fictional account of a young male poet in 16^th century England who mysteriously becomes female at age 30 and lives until the early 20^th century. The book, which shows how gender can be fluid in different circumstances, is considered a feminist classic and has been extensively studied by scholars focusing on women’s, gender and transgender issues.

“I wanted to reflect the wonderful diversity of life and evoke a subtle form of sexual attraction that cannot be pigeonholed into a single gender,” Neuwirth said. “What’s more, the main character refuses to be patronized and treated in a condescending manner, something that continually happens to women with no end in sight.”

Neuwirth studied composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and painting and film at San Francisco Art Institute. She lives and teaches in Vienna.

Earlier this year, she won the 2021 Wolf Prize in Music, a prestigious international award presented in Israel that also went to Stevie Wonder.

“’Orlando’ is an enormous, supremely ambitious work,” said Marc Satterwhite, who directs the Grawemeyer music award. “The libretto and multifaceted score challenge our preconceptions of gender and sexual roles and test our ideas of what opera is and is not. It also seems appropriate that the first female-composed opera to be performed at the Vienna State Opera, a venue long regarded as a bastion of tradition, should take aim at these issues.”

Ricordi Berlin, the German branch of Italian music publisher Casa Ricordi, published the winning work.

Recipients of next year’s are being named this week pending formal approval by university trustees. The annual, $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in world order, psychology, education and religion. Recipients will visit Louisville in April to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

For the first time in 18 months, live audiences are once more being allowed inside to enjoy performances by the SOM students, faculty and guests.

SOM this week released its live performance schedule for the Fall 2021 semester beginning with two concerts Sept. 19.��

The schedule includes the Faculty Gala Oct. 22 and the popular Halloween-themed University Symphony Orchestra concert Oct. 30, as well as an abundance of student and faculty performances closed to audiences since March 2020 due to COVID-19.

Proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be required at the door for members of the public, faculty, staff and students who would like to attend. Several of the concerts also will be livestreamed.

In addition:

• Most concerts are free but all require online signup on Eventbrite.com;
• Seating is limited with prearranged spacing to allow for physical distancing;
• Everyone who enters the event venue for any reason must wear a mask that completely covers the nose and mouth at all times;
• Regardless of vaccination status, we ask if you are feeling unwell to refrain from in-person attendance.

“We are thrilled about the return of audiences to the music building, and we are confident our safety measures will ensure the healthiest and most comfortable experience possible for everyone,” said SOM Dean Teresa Reed.

A comprehensive list of concerts with signup links can be . Please check frequently for updates.

While COVID-19 shut down travel, it could not shut down UofL working with the Universidad El Bosque of Bogota, Colombia.

Under the direction of UofL Associate Professor of Music Chris Fitzgerald and Javier Perez of the Universidad El Bosque, students at both universities collaborated remotely to produce jazz performances.

The result? Four YouTube performances – two from UofL and two from Universidad El Bosque – that show viewers the skill and expertise of the students from both schools.

The following performances are available online now and linked below:��

• UofL: ��
• El Bosque:
• UofL: “
• El Bosque:��

The schools have collaborated in person before – both program directors are alumni of the UofL School of Music – but the pandemic required innovative thinking to enable students to work together this year.

“Each student recorded their part in the performances separately,” Fitzgerald said. “Once I received my group of performances, I was able to use computer software to combine them. Javier did the same.”

And while Fitzgerald and Perez are looking forward to resuming their in-person collaboration, the remote experience has provided new learning opportunities for both faculty and students.

“It’s been great to learn how to put together separate remote performances into one cohesive presentation,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s something we now can impart to our students going forward to further their education.”

That decision sparked��an even bigger��passion for travel that would��take��Berry��beyond UofL’s campus and��shape her academic career. It led her to��study abroad twice��(first in San Sebastián, Spain and again in��Puntarenas, Costa Rica),��and��graduate��in 2018��with��two bachelor’s degrees��and��a��minor��–��all during her undergraduate career.��

Now,��Berry��has earned��a��master of arts��in political science��and plans to��continue��her��journey��as a Cardinal this fall at the Brandeis School of Law on an almost��full–tuition scholarship.��

All of her travel opportunities and��academic��experiences stemmed from a decision to attend��the��School of Music.��

“I knew in high school that I wanted part of my college education to involve music, and UofL’s��School of��Music is the best in the state,”��Berry said.��“I attended the Governor’s School for the Arts in high school, so UofL offered me the Trustee’s Scholarship.��And when I toured UofL, I fell in love with the close-knit feeling of campus and I could see myself growing as a student and community member here.”��

Berry��did indeed grow as a student at UofL and��earned��a��bachelor of��arts��in��music,��a��bachelor of��arts��in��psychology��and��a��minor in Spanish,��in addition to��her participation in two study abroad programs.��She decided to first study abroad in San Sebastián, Spain during her sophomore year in 2016 to immerse herself in a Spanish-speaking country and help her earn her degree’s language requirement.����

“Because that specific program in Spain offered an intensive Spanish language track that allowed me to take 14 credit hours of Spanish in one semester, I thought that would be the best way for me to effectively learn the language and finish my language requirement for my BA in psychology all at once,” Berry said.��

While in Spain, Berry also took a Psychology of Religion and Spirituality class and taught English in two local schools. Her experience in Spain helped her fall in love with the Spanish language and encouraged her to continue��honing her Spanish skills��when she returned home,��eventually��leading to her second study abroad adventure, this time as a senior in 2018.��

“I studied abroad in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, because I wanted to continue my Spanish language education, but I wanted a different cultural experience from what I had in Spain,” Berry said. “This program had a really interesting Central American Literature class that was taught entirely in Spanish. I wanted a Spanish class that would challenge my language abilities and wasn’t just focused on grammar.”��

When she returned��to UofL��from��her first study abroad in��Spain, Berry decided she wanted to work as a peer ambassador within the Office of Study Abroad and International Travel to help others achieve their study abroad goals and continued her work with the office as a graduate assistant while earning her master’s degree.��

“Working for the study abroad office as a��peer ambassador��and graduate assistant gave me the chance to share my story and helped to grow my leadership, presentation and communication skills,” Berry said.��“The staff at the office became more like mentors to me, and I’ll always be grateful for my time there.”��

Berry credits early planning and the help of the study abroad office and��her��advisors for helping her achieve her academic goals.����

“It definitely was difficult to fit everything��in, but��studying abroad as a sophomore allowed me to have the time to study abroad one more time,” Berry said.��“I expressed interest in studying abroad to all of my academic advisors and kept them in the loop with all my plans. It takes effort and careful planning, but UofL has tons of resources to make it easier for you.”��

While fitting in two degrees��and��a minor, along with two study abroad semesters, earning a master’s degree and��gaining��entrance into law school are all��great��feats��to accomplish, Berry��is��proudest of the connections she��made across the globe and the resiliency she learned through her travels.��

“I am��so��proud of the relationships I have built and grown throughout everything I have experienced,” Berry said.��“My family has been nothing but supportive, and I now have people from all over the country and the world that I can call my friends.

“Studying abroad changes your life in so many ways. It helps you learn how to navigate difficult situations where you might not know what to do and improves your resilience.��You learn about cultures unlike your own and you honestly just learn that this world is a much smaller place than we think it is.” ��

That’s the recipe for the 2021 Grawemeyer Awards celebration, set for 7 p.m., Thursday, April 15. Usually held as a gala banquet, the 2021 celebration will be livestreamed via .

Announced in December 2019, the Grawemeyer Award winners for 2020 are being honored in 2021 following the cancellation of their award banquet last year. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the winners will be honored in a remote ceremony that will give them the opportunity to discuss the work that led to their awards.

By creating these awards,��UofL alumnus H. Charles Grawemeyer��found a way to inspire, honor and nurture achievements in��music composition, education, religion, psychology and ideas improving world order.��

The livestreamed event will be hosted by UofL Grawemeyer Award Director Charles Leonard and will feature recorded remarks from UofL President Neeli Bendapudi and Louisville Seminary President Alton Pollard III. The seminary co-presents the award in religion with UofL.

Speaking live will be the 2021 winners:

• , a San Diego composer who won the music composition award for his orchestral work evoking the threat climate change poses to humanity
• , an American University professor who won the world order award for his book challenging the United Nations to rethink how it handles environmental problems
• , a King’s College, London, behavioral geneticist, who won the psychology award for explaining how DNA influences how we work with the world around us
• , of Harvard University’s Graduate School of ����ֱ�� and High Tech High Graduate School of ����ֱ��, which is linked with a network of diverse charter schools in San Diego, respectively, who co-won the education award for their study of how to encourage deeper learning in U.S. high schools
• , a Willamette University professor who won the religion award for showing how an early Christian creed urging human solidarity applies in modern life

For additional information, visit the Grawemeyer Awards website.

Petrova and her performance partners Molly Carr, viola, and Oded Hadar, cello, have been performing for COVID-19 patients in New York Presbyterian Hospital via FaceTime.

Bringing music to hospital patients is part of Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit organization founded by Carr. The nonprofit presents classical music concerts in facilities which have a difficult time accessing the arts, such as hospices, hospitals, homeless shelters, prisons, food pantries and, through the with Petrova, refugee camps.

The trio’s collaborative spirit has helped share music with those who need it most during these trying times.

“We’ve begun playing for the COVID-19 patients; the patients who are suffering the most because of not being able to be around other humans,” Petrova said. “It has been exciting and fulfilling to watch this program take flight over the past few weeks. We’re bringing together isolated patients with the Project: Music Heals Us roster of world-acclaimed classical musicians who have generously agreed to connect with patients and play for them either over the phone or on FaceTime.”

Now, Petrova is putting on a virtual concert for UofL audiences to bring music into their homes to help alleviate stress. The concert will be performed through a Facebook live video on the at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 26.

Petrova and Carr, who have performed together as the Carr-Petrova Duo on the Carnegie Hall stage, have traded their grand concert halls for living rooms and live-stream concerts.

Petrova hopes the virtual concert will make people feel connected in a time when we are unable to be physically near each other.

“Our goal in bringing this concert to UofL audiences is to simply establish that connection again – the connection between the performer/musician and our friends,” Petrova said. “Since we cannot all gather in the concert hall, this virtual format is what we need … for now.”

The concert will include music by some of the trio’s favorite composers, including Schumann, Gershwin, Chopin and Brahms, among others. Petrova says the concert’s repertoire reflects their current moods of introspection and intimacy.

The trio of friends are quarantined together and have been spending their time playing chamber music, preparing livestream concerts online, teaching their students and hanging out around the house.

Petrova said she has been able to appreciate playing music just for herself during this time of isolation, but misses the connections she creates through her music.

“I’ve enjoyed moments of playing music just for the pleasure of it, without the high-pressure that comes with preparing concerts with a deadline,” she said. “At some point, however, the reason for playing and learning music is to be able to connect with others.”

Although Petrova has performed across the globe, she is thankful to be a part of UofL and wants to do what she can to give back to the UofL community.

“As a faculty member at UofL, I am very grateful for the support and care the university’s leadership has given its faculty and students,” said Petrova. “I know these are really hard times for every institution and I would like to do whatever I can as an individual to support our university and the School of Music.”

Read the in the latest edition of��, along with other stories that illustrate UofL’s impact.�� ��

• : Engineering professors are disrupting life as we know it
• : Nico Thom is on a mission to teach young girls they can be whatever they want to be
• : Madison Kommor changed the way the medical students prep for disasters
• : Professor Hilaria Cruz created an alphabet so parents in one indigenous community could read books to their children

The awards ceremony recognizes high achieving graduates based on their merit and contributions to the community. Each year, one alumna or alumnus of the year is selected along with 13 Alumni Fellows from each of the schools, colleges, libraries, and student affairs.��

Alumna of the Year

• Jenny L. Sawyer ’78,��executive director of��admissions��at the University of Louisville.

Alumni Fellows

• Brandeis School of Law
  Edwin S. Hopson, Sr. ’67, ’69, partner at��Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs.
• College of Arts and Sciences
  George Nichols, III ’85,��president and chief executive officer of the American College of Financial Services.
• College of Business
  Raymond E. Loyd ’68, founder of Derby Industries and Derby Fabricating.
• College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development
  Linda F. Hargan ’71, ’73, ’93,��founder, president, and chief executive officer emeritus of CTL.
• J. B. Speed School of Engineering
  Gerald G. Hubbs ’64, ’76, retired vice president and director of engineering at the Brown-Forman Corporation.��
• Kent School of Social Work
  Ruby Gordon ’66, ’72, former social worker with JCPS and Hillebrand House.
• School of Dentistry
  Karen L. Pierce-West ’77, ’82,��dean and professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine.
• School of Medicine
  Shawn C. Jones ’82, ’86, ’93,��founder of Purchase ENT, an ENT-otolaryngologist specialty group in Paducah, Kentucky.��
• School of Music
  John M. Hoover ’63, ’69, former director of bands at the University of Louisville.
• School of Nursing
  Flora Ponder ’87, former head nurse at the Louisville and Jefferson County Health Department and director of nurses at the Park-Duvalle Community Health Center.��
• School of Public Health and Information Sciences
  Lewatis D. McNeal ’16,��assistant dean of administration of inclusive excellence and special projects at Northern Kentucky University.
• Student Affairs
  Todd A. Schmiedeler ’97,��Trilogy Health Service’s senior vice president of Foundation & Workforce Development and founder and president of Thumbprint Consulting.
• University Libraries
  Morris M. Weiss Jr. ’58, cardiologist with Medical Center Cardiologists and clinical professor of medicine in cardiology at the University of Louisville.

This year’s awardees will be honored at the 2019 Alumni Awards ceremony October 24.

Those ideas earned their creators 2019 , $100,000 prizes recognizing how powerful concepts can change the world. Award recipients were named Dec. 3-7.

The winners are:

• , music composition, for writing the non-traditional concerto “Nomaden”
• , ideas improving world order, for designing a framework to help nations expand human rights
• , for developing a theory explaining how drug addiction works in the brain
• , for explaining how white Protestant dominance of U.S. politics and culture is ending

“As is so often the case, our award recipients have addressed important issues of the day in a highly creative manner,” said Charles Leonard, Grawemeyer Awards executive director.

“From shedding new light on opioid addiction to charting a vast political and cultural change, from improving the well-being of people worldwide to welcoming diverse cultures into Western classical music, all of their ideas have potential to enrich our lives.”

UofL presents the annual prizes in music, world order, psychology and education and gives the religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

No education award was given this year because “jurors could not single out an idea likely to advance our field in a highly significant way,” said Marion Hambrick, an associate professor in UofL’s College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, who directs the award.

The late Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL graduate and former seminary trustee, set up the awards in 1984 to underscore the impact a single idea can have on the world. He also asked that laypeople be involved in selecting the awards to ensure broad understanding of the winning ideas.

All of the Grawemeyer Award recipients will visit Louisville in April to give free, public talks on their winning ideas.