Kraemer’s final concert as county’s symphony conductor is Saturday
Butler County Symphony Orchestra’s conductor Matthew Kraemer will put his baton down in the county for the last time at the end of Saturday’s concert in the Butler Intermediate High School auditorium.
His last performance as the regular conductor of the orchestra will be "The Golden Age of Hollywood" concert.
Kraemer has accepted the position of conductor and musical director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
He will take his new position with the New Orleans-based group July 1 with its season starting the third week in September. He plans to move his wife, Megan, and their sons, Gabriel, 10, and Nathaniel, 6, to New Orleans in June.
He will keep a residence in Indianapolis, however, because he renewed his contract with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra for four more years. Kraemer was appointed music director and principal conductor of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in 2015.
He spent 11 seasons with the Butler symphony.
"I've never been anywhere as long as I have here. I consider it home in many respects," said Kraemer, who came to Butler from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Butler symphony is made up of veteran professional musicians and graduate students from Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University. Every musician is paid for their service.
And Kraemer will return to the Butler symphony in March 2024 during its 75th anniversary year to conduct Mahler's “First Symphony,” a concert originally slated for April 2020 but derailed by the pandemic.
"After having been here for 11 years, I wouldn't want to miss the birthday party," he said in an earlier interview.
Kraemer will be just one of the guest conductors leading the symphony while its board of directors looks for a permanent replacement, a search that could take up to two years.
Kraemer, recognized for his musical sensitivity and sense of interpretation, is making his mark among American conductors.
“He presents a tall, dignified and stately podium presence with a quite clear beat, a good sense of shaping melodic lines, and an all-business attitude that focused on the music without any histrionics,” the Buffalo News said.
His active guest conducting schedule has included appearances with the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Columbus, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Nashville, North Carolina, Saint Louis, Spokane, Syracuse and Toledo symphony orchestras, as well as Canada’s Mississauga Symphony, Niagara Symphony and Hamilton Philharmonic and in Europe with the Vidin Philharmonic and the Orquesta de Cadaqués.
Kraemer is a graduate of Butler University and the University of Nevada.
