Julian Kerte travels from his home in Montreal in time for the Baton Rouge … renting it out.

Kerte will miss Mardi Gras for a week when he takes the podium as guest conductor of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, March 10, but there is still a lot of French culture to experience on his first visit to Louisiana.

Querty also incorporates some of the Louisiana flavors when he leads BRSO at Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s Symphony No. 1 at the River Center Performing Arts Theater in Rays Kane.

The concert is the first in the 2022 series of symphony orchestras. Antonín Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 is the main title of the show, but Kelty included Gottschalk’s work not only in the state, but more specifically in honor of the composer New Orleans Creole.

Keurti also took the time to go to Crescent City and find Gottschalk’s house.

“If you look at Louisiana, you can see that it is very much tied to the traditions of France and the French Creole,” Kerte said. “So I started my research and found Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who was born in New Orleans. He was a local Louisiana composer and was incredibly popular at the time.» »