It all started when…

Orlando Cela, LCO’s Music Director was giving a flute lesson in UMass Lowell. This student had been given a prominent part in the school’s orchestra (first flute in Debussy’s “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faun”). This student had never heard this piece live! After a short conversation, Orlando realized that access to a professional orchestra was difficult - far, and expensive.

So in spring of 2019, Orlando started assembling a team and fundraising in order to create a professional orchestra that would present the best of classical music at the highest quality for free, and in Lowell, so students (and anyone!) could access these concerts easily. By fall of 2019, we became the resident orchestra of Middlesex Community College, and we perform often in their year-long concert series “A World of Music.”

We performed our first concert on September 28th, at UMass Lowell’s Durgin Hall, wth a program of Haydn, Vivaldi, Schubert, and a national premiere by Dan Shore. This became our model: feature standard repertoire, and present music by living composers, and a soloist, helping to educate, and to propel the careers of living artists.

With our albums, we started an initiative called “Lowell Threads:” a program that pays homage to the city’s textile past, since it interweaves compositions by living composers with well-known pieces of different styles. In our first album, “The Suite,” music by Anthony Green and José Luis Elizondo complement suites by JS Bach and GP Telemann. In our second album, “Miniature Symphonies,” Brittney Benton, Quinn Mason, Kevin Scott, and Yoko Nakatani, reply to Darius Milhaud chamber symphonies. Our albums have been heard around the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Now at the beginning of its sixth season, LCO has performed works from string quartets to operas, educational events, lectures, etc., all around Lowell and surrounding towns - we even performed at the inauguration of the current Middlesex Community College president! We have premiered dozens of new works - mostly by composers from underrepresented communities - featured soloists from all over the world, and collaborated with many local partners.

LCO and its music director have earned a few awards, and many positive reviews for its performances, recordings, and most notably, its activism.

Now in its sixth season, LCO is continuing its charitable work. With our concerts, lectures, commissions, and competitions, we continue to provide opportunities to musicians far and wide, and making Lowell an international hub for premiere classical music.