The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is an American orchestra based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the Gulf South. The music director is Carlos Miguel Prieto. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in September 1991 by musicians from the former New Orleans Symphony. The LPO performs a full 36 week concert season featuring an array of Classics, Casual Classics, Family, Education, and Outreach concerts, as well as Special Events. The members of the LPO are home-based in New Orleans and serve the Gulf South region. LPO is the only musician-owned and operated professional symphony in the United States.
Its first music director was Klauspeter Seibel (1936–2011). Mr. Seibel retired in 2005 from the LPO. Mr. Seibel's work with LPO was widely praised in eulogies of his death in Hamburg, Germany, on January 8, 2011.
Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 caused the LPO's musicians to evacuate. Their venue, the Orpheum Theater, flooded. Members of the orchestra began performing at alternate locations in 2006.
See also Klauspeter Seibel.
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