The new uniform showcases a two-toned red and white jacket with a metallic gradient sash, accentuated by a small red gothic “L” logo on the right sleeve. Positioned prominently, the iconic Cardinal logo adorns the left chest, while the “Louisville” wordmark spans across the upper back.������

“T��� donation was anonymous as was the exact amount, but it was motivated by our strong appearances and appreciation for the students’ hard work representing our university at high profile events over the past year,” said Jason Cumberledge, director of athletic bands. “It was noticed that we had a need for a new and fresh appearance that matches the energy of our athletics teams.”������

Cumberledge said all of the band directors had a hand in designing and approving the new uniform design. He also recalls the moment the ensemble learned about the new uniforms.������

“A loud roar was heard following the announcement,” he said.

The details create a sleek and sophisticated aesthetic, while paying homage to the current uniforms, which have been in use for the past decade.

The Cardinal Marching Band is the largest musical ambassador representing the University of Louisville and the second largest student organization on campus. With vibrant tradition and sound that spans more than 80 years, the Cardinal Marching Band has been�� prominently featured. They have been notably recognized as the official marching band of the Kentucky Derby since 1936.����

To learn more about the .��Follow the Cardinal Marching Band on , , ��and .����

from the University of Louisville vs. Jacksonville State game held on Sept. 7, 2024.��

By Laren Hines

“Notre Dame burned while I was writing the piece,” he said. “It was traumatizing to watch such an important icon of civilization go up in flames. The experience affected my writing.” A year earlier, as Anderson was beginning “Litanies,” Oliver Knussen, an acclaimed British composer, conductor and close friend of his, died, prompting Anderson to write the slow movement of the work in his memory.

Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and chamber orchestras in Norway, Sweden and Switzerland commissioned the winning, 25-minute concerto for cello and orchestra, which German cellist Alban Gerhardt and the National Orchestra of France premiered in 2020 at Radio France Auditorium. Anderson dedicated the concerto to Gerhardt in recognition of his special qualities as a cellist, he said.

“T��� explores virtually every sound a cello and orchestra can make together,” said Marc Satterwhite, who directs the Grawemeyer music award. “It spans a vast emotional range and is constantly inventive, but always toward an expressive end, never for the sake of novelty.”

, 55, studied with John Lambert, Alexander Goehr and Tristan Murail early in his career. Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra have commissioned his work, and ensembles across Europe and the United States have performed “Khorovod” and “Alhambra Fantasy,” his most played pieces. In April, “Exiles,” a piece he wrote in 2021 for voices and orchestra, premiered in Berlin.

A professor of composition and composer-in-residence at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London since 2007, Anderson also has taught music composition at Harvard University and the Royal College of Music. In 2021 he was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his outstanding service to music.

Schott Music Ltd. publishes his compositions written after mid-2014 and Faber Music, those written before.

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

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.”

The traditional pageantry that kicks off springtime in the commonwealth – the Kentucky Derby – isn’t happening on the first Saturday in May for the first time since 1945.

A pandemic has put us all on pause.

However, while we’re relegated to our homes, left to wait for an unpredictable amount of time for things to get back to “normal,” our spirit still resonates. You see it when the green lights turn on. You hear it when the bells toll. ����

On Saturday, you’ll feel it when that old familiar song plays. Our song.

Since 1936, UofL’s Marching Cards have served as “T��� Official Band of the Kentucky Derby,” opening up the “Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports” with our rendition of “My Old Kentucky Home.” Each year, our students play this song to about 150,000 people at Churchill Downs and an additional 15 million television viewers across the world.

By the time the band is finished playing, there typically aren’t many dry eyes left. A�� “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.”��

Has there been a better time for such a nudge than now?

UofL’s drum major Natalie Humble didn’t want that feeling – that experience – to get lost this year.

So, she reached out to a few of her friends, both at UofL and at other colleges and universities across Kentucky, and asked if they would want to perform a virtual version of the state song and debut the finished piece on May 2, what would have been Derby Day.��

“I came up with the idea one day while doing online schoolwork and reflecting on what the semester would have been like in a normal situation. ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ popped into my head and I immediately wanted to create something that brought some normality back into the spring. But I wanted it to be something that all of us – as Kentuckians – resonated with,” Humble said.

Everyone she reached out to was interested. In fact, Humble recruited about 100 total participants – about half of whom are UofL students. Another 20 or so are UofL School of Music alums, a handful are UofL faculty and the rest are from other institutions throughout the state. Thirteen total institutions, to be exact.

“We had a massive amount of interest from students at UofL, and it was really incredible to see the alums show so much interest. I am truly proud of how many other schools we got to participate,” she said.

Humble, a rising senior Music ����ֱ�� major from Monticello, Kentucky, has performed at the Derby twice. Her favorite memory was during her freshman year, when it down poured.��

“It doesn’t sound like much fun, but it was so memorable that I can still feel the adrenaline now just the same as I did on that day,” she said.

Although performing “My Old Kentucky Home” to kick off the Derby is a signature UofL experience, Humble said it was important to get other schools involved this year because of the unusual circumstances created by COVID-19.

“As a college student and as a Kentuckian, I know how hard it is to adjust, and this experience is something that we all share. In times like this, it is especially important for all of us to realize that we aren’t alone and that we’re a team, so inviting everyone to be part of such a meaningful project was the most valuable part of the whole idea,” she said.

“T��� Derby performance always represents togetherness for me. It is such a short part of the timeline, but it is a time where all the people watching – no matter where they are in the world – are taking a moment to pause and come together. I think this year’s performance represents the same thing, just in a different way.”

Stay tuned for this performance of the “My Old Kentucky Home,” which will be available on both the and Saturday, May 2.

The following schools will be represented in the performance:��Campbellsville University, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Ivy Tech Community College, Lindsey Wilson College, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Thomas More University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, University of the Cumberlands, Western Kentucky University.

The event, which celebrates Women’s History and month, will feature the Olmsted Academy South’s string orchestra playing with the UofL Symphony Orchestra.

The groups will perform the premiere of “Revolt of the Brave” by composer and UofL alumna . The piece was commissioned and funded through , a national organization which strives to introduce students to the experience of creating and performing new music.

“T��� purpose of this event is to show young ladies what they can do,” said Kimcherie Lloyd, UofL Director of Orchestral Studies and Co-Director of Opera Theatre.

The 6 p.m. event will also feature student presentations of famous women in history and students’ artwork with accompanying string ensemble music.

“We are so excited to collaborate��with UofL��for our third year of ‘Because She Did, I Can’,” said Courtney Schisler, Olmsted Academy South’s Orchestra teacher and UofL alumna. “Our motto is that we are��brave. This event gives our young ladies the��opportunity to show how brave they��are and��allows��them��to��connect with and learn from brave women of��the��past and present.”

The event is free and open to the public. Attendees will be directed to programming in Comstock and Bird Recital halls, School of Music, 105 W. Brandeis Ave.

The four-day festival, now in its sixth year, includes concerts, master classes, youth ensemble showcases and an international competition with a first prize of $1,000.

Stephen Mattingly, UofL guitar instructor and festival director, said the event is open to all enthusiasts and playing levels and draws players from around the world.

“T��� festival offers stylistically varied concerts for all guitar fans and an array of workshops for guitarists of any age or level,” he��said.

Concerts will be held in the Margaret Comstock Concert Hall, School of Music, on UofL’s Belknap Campus. The opening concert will feature the award-winning French guitarist Thibaut Garcia. Later concerts will present an array of virtuosic solo guitar music.

Highlights include:

• Sept. 15, 7 p.m. evening concert: Thibaut Garcia
• Sept. 16, 4 p.m. afternoon concert: Tantalus Quartet; 7 p.m. evening concert: Marek Nosal
• Sept. 17, 4 p.m. afternoon concert: Stephen Lochbaum; 7 p.m. evening concert: Kevin Manderville and Emma Rush
• Sept. 18, 1 p.m. competition final round; 7:30 p.m. University Orchestra concert: Mattingly performs “Concierto de Aranjuez”

Tickets are $50 for concert series, $20 for individual concerts and free for UofL students. The general registration fee for participants is $150 for adults or $75 for a youth weekend fee. Tickets and registration forms are available at the door or .

As he hummed, he carefully monitored 11-day-old William Receveur, who was born six weeks early and weighs just 3.2 pounds.��

He paused to give Amy Rodgers Smith, another music therapist from Morgantown, West Virginia, lessons on how to introduce massage with the music and gauge William’s response, especially for signs of distress.

But on this day, baby William was a happy listener.

“As we moved forward … you could just feel him melt into me a little bit more, his whole body relaxed and he made more consistent eye contact and we got a few smiles from him and these little rumbles they call purrs and that’s a sign of positive interaction and relaxation,” said Rodgers Smith.

And that’s what music therapists are hoping to achieve with preemies like William, a state of relaxation that can help them adapt to the outside world.

“Babies born prematurely have difficulty regulating what is happening to them in their environment,” said Darcy DeLoach, director of Music Therapy at UofL. “Music, as an intervention, provides a very structured way for the brain to process another layer of input while staying calm. So we’re teaching premature babies how to regulate what’s happening to them when they get a bath, when they’re being held, or when they’re seeing lights or hearing sounds. Music calms them and allows them to see pleasure around them. Then they’re able to tolerate whatever the next thing is in their schedule better.”�� ����

Research has shown that music therapy for premature babies can ultimately reduce reliance on medication, decrease the length of time in the hospital and promote brain development.

DeLoach said music therapy is increasingly recognized as a treatment option for premature babies and babies who were exposed to drugs in utero, a problem that has worsened in the region with the recent heroin epidemic.

Last week, DeLoach and Detmer provided special training for 12 music therapists from the U.S. and Canada who want to learn how to help preemies with music therapy. The training was offered through the National Institute for Infant & Child Medical Music Therapy in partnership with Florida State University. The institute, now in its 15th year, was held in Louisville for the first time at Norton Healthcare.

Rodgers Smith, an institute participant, said NICU music therapy currently isn’t an option in her home state of��West Virginia.

“I hope to start the education process there,” she said. “Hopefully I can take what I’ve learned back and demonstrate the value.”

Lee Receveur, mom of baby William, said learning ways to help calm her child and recognize his stress signs has been beneficial. And, it helps alleviate feelings of helplessness while waiting to go home.��

“It’s another opportunity to spend time with him and work with him,” she said.

Check out a video about the music therapy training:��

Selections will include��classics such as “Swan Lake” as well as new choreography from dance theatre co-directors Chuck Bronson and Cynthia Bronner, Louisville dancer Theresa Bautista and student choreographer Jacob Lichtefeld. Eduard Forehand, who recently retired from the Louisville Ballet, will appear as a guest dancer.

“T��� real strength of the show is the variety,” Bronson said. “We run the gamut; all styles for all tastes and everything in between.”

The UofL Dance Theatre is a pre-professional ballet company affiliated with the UofL Dance Academy. Students in the invitation-only program are required to take a minimum of four weekly classes and attend rehearsals. The Spring Gala is for students who are apprentice level and above.

“You never know, you may see the next future star,” Bronson said.

Tickets��for the Spring Gala��are available at the door. The box office opens at 6:15 p.m. the day of performance. General admission is $15, $5 for students and senior citizens.