LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s Youth Orchestra has a brand new Executive Director. He is a man who is gifted with the ability to beautifully play the piano. He can play several other instruments too.
His name is Matthew Vanover. He grew up in western Kentucky and in high school, he was very interested in the piano. Vanover played cello in the Owensboro Youth Orchestra and says his family is a music family.
Vanover and his wife moved from northern Kentucky. That’s where he led the Immanuel School of Music and served over 700 students there. He also helped develop a music program for underserved schools.
Vanover says the joy of the job isn’t mundane things like payroll and email. It’s something else.
“On a Sunday afternoon, you walk into a room and you see all the kids that are there because you did all those things and you see them exploring that gift together, and all of it in an instant is always worth it,” Vanover explained.
Vanover said it feels great to be leading the Louisville Youth Orchetra and he’s learning a lot. He says the Louisville Youth Orchestra is a strong organization and there’s so much good already there.
One of Vanover’s goals is to build around a solid, decades-long foundation. They have 250-300 students right now.
“There’s hundreds of kids in the Louisville community that are LYO students. They just don’t know it yet,” Vanover said. “We have programs in mind that are going to reach some of our elementary schools, strengthen our middle school and high school orchestra programs and hopefully we can develop better interdependent relationships with those teachers.”
The Louisville Youth Orchestra has 65 years of history. It started in 1958. Through the decades, the orchestra has performed hundreds of community concerts. They’ve traveled across the state, country and even internationally to Switzerland in 1971.
“With our reach here at the Louisville Youth Orchestra, I think that the sky’s the limit in terms of what we can do,” Vanover said.
He said everyone in the organization is alive with opportunity and positivity.
Vanover said auditions are being accepted now. They welcome students from anywhere in Kentucky, and even outside of the state.