Louisiana Classical Music

Get your calendar. Add: July 25 and 26, 8pm. Hot Summer Nights and Cool Jazz. Shaver Theater, LSU. Get there early, sit back, relax, and get ready for mind blowing music provided by the LSU Faculty Jazz Trio and guests. On the left side of the stage you will find Professor Willis Delony. Pay close attention to his playing; you’re in for a real treat. He is our Musician of the Week.

Willis Delony has won national and international acclaim as a jazz and classical pianist, conductor, chamber player, commercial composer, and arranger. His concert explorations of the jazz and classical piano worlds are showcased in a recent recording of music by American composers entitled Double Dance – Classical and Jazz Connections II, which was released by Centaur Records in 2008.  A previous album, also on the Centaur label, is entitled A New World A’ Comin’ – Classical and Jazz Connections. Both are now in international distribution. In a Fanfare magazine review of A New World A’ Comin’, Peter Burwasser writes: “(Delony) plays with gusto and finesse, and with an especially nimble rhythmic sensibility, a proper combination of attributes for jazz, or any other kind of music-making, for that matter.” Previous album credits include a recording of sonatas by Samuel Barber and Sergei Prokofiev, also on the Centaur label, and a jazz album entitled Civilized Conversations, featuring Delony and bassist Bill Grimes. He is featured in a collaboration with bassoonist William Ludwig on the recent recording, Rhapsody in Bassoon, on the Mark Records label, which features the world premiere recording of André Previn’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano.

During recent concert seasons, Delony has appeared as piano soloist or conductor with American orchestras in Wichita, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Toronto, Madison (Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra), Spartanburg (South Carolina), Rochester, Omaha, Nashville, Fort Worth, New Orleans (Louisiana Philharmonic), Shreveport, the Sun River Festival Orchestra in Bend, OR and the Florida Orchestra (Tampa). He has appeared recently as guest soloist with the Columbus (GA) Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, the Baton Rouge Symphony, the Louisiana Sinfonietta and, in a 2002 Asian tour, the Shanghai Symphony. In July, 2006 he performed a solo recital in Offenburg, Germany as part of the Kreuzgangkonzerte series, performing a solo recital program entitledJazz Meets Mozart. In November, 2006 he traveled to Paris for an appearance as solo recitalist on the La Main d’Or concert series. An experienced jazz arranger, Delony’s scores have been performed by orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada. His work as pianist, arranger and conductor is currently featured in Club Swing and Stay Tuned, the popular orchestral shows featuring the Minneapolis-based vocal group Five By Design. He is conductor/pianist on the CD recording of Club Swing, which was released in January 2002.

Delony is the Barineau Professor of Keyboard Studies and Professor of Jazz Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Prior to his LSU appointment in August of 2000, he taught for fourteen years on the music faculty at Southeastern Louisiana University where he received the university’s President’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity. He is also the recipient of an Artist Fellowship by the Louisiana Division of the Arts in recognition of his achievements in classical and jazz performance.

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Morgan Bartholick is a 20-year-old violist from Port Angeles, Washington. He began studying the violin at age 8 under the instruction of Betty Hanson and Penelope Linterman. During his first 3 years at Port Angeles High School, Morgan achieved the position of Concertmaster, as well as Principal Second Violinist of the elite Port Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He was recognized for his leadership abilities and was Principal Second Violinist of the Port Angeles Symphonic Orchestra for their March 2005 Carnegie Hall performance. In his junior year, Morgan began studying the viola and became Principal Violist of the Chamber Orchestra for his senior year. He was selected for the 2006 WMEA All State Chamber Orchestra and performed a solo at the 2006 WMEA State Solo and Ensemble Contest.

Morgan has attended the Centrum Chamber Music Workshop, Marrowstone Music Festival, and International Festival Institute at Roundtop. He has participated in master classes with Eric Kean (Western Washington Univ.), Mara Gearman (Seattle Symphony), Hsiaopei Lee (Univ. of Southern Miss.), Sheila Browne (NCSA), Jesse Levine (Yale), Susan Dubois (Univ. of North Texas), Richard Woehrle (Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra), and Dominic Johnson (New Millenium Orchestra). Morgan was also a participant in the 2009 Louisiana Viola Competition sponsored by the Louisiana Viola Society. Active in the Baton Rouge local theatre, Morgan has been part of the pit orchestra for shows at Baton Rouge Little Theatre including Show Boat, The Producers, Chicago, and Singin’ in the Rain. He also musical directed and played both violin and viola for a concert reading of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years. He is currently attending Louisiana State University where he studies with Matthew Daline.

Ronaldo Cadeu (Brazil, 1977) has a Bachelors Degree in Classical Guitar Performance, (UFMG Federal University of Minas Gerais 2001). Now Cadeu is pursuing his Ph. D. degree in Musical Composition (minor in Orchestral Conducting) at Louisiana State University, where he is studying under guidance of Dinos Constantinides.

Cadeu’s musical pieces have been performed by Recife Symphony Orchestra (Orquestra Sinfônica do Recife, Brazil); Minas Gerais’ State Symphony Orchestra (Orquestra Sinfônica de Minas Gerais, Brazil); Ouro Branco Chamber Orchestra(Orquestra de Câmara de Ouro Branco, Brazil); Petrobras Pro-Musica Sympony Orchestra (Orquestra Sinfônica Petrobrás Pró-Música, one of the best orchestras in Brazil); Louisiana Sinfonietta (USA); and the Contemporary String Ensemble(USA).

His arrangements for symphony orchestra are often played by Dillard University Orchestra and Choir (New Orleans, 2006, 2007, and 2008) and by New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra (2006, 2009).

Ronaldo Cadeu received two very important composition awards in Brazil for his Symphony no. 1 (Op. 2. no 1) and his Symphony no. 2 (Op. 2. no. 2). Cadeu is also a conductor and a recognized and awarded Classical Guitar player. He conducted the Wind Ensemble of Minas Gerais’ State University performing live the sound track of Prometheus Unbounded composed by cadeu in 2006. Cadeu also conducted Louisiana State University’s Symphony Orchestra in his graduating recital in Orchestral Conducting.

As a classical guitar player Cadeu has performed and recorded Dinos Constantinides’ Baroque Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra; Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in D Major, Carulli’s Guitar Concerto in A Major and Dinos Constantinides’ The Cat that Walked by Himself, for Guitar, Narrator and Orchestra which was released in CD by Louisiana Sinfonietta on the Fall of 2008.