Southeastern Chamber Orchestra to present “Delony Plays Shostakovich” May 4
Thursday, April 23, 2015 
by: Rene Abadie
DELONY PLAYS SHOSTAKOVICH – Willis Delony, the Virginia Martin Howard Professor of Piano and Jazz Studies at LSU, will be the guest performer at the Southeastern Louisiana University's Chamber Orchestra concert to be held at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in Hammond on Monday, May 4.
HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University Chamber Orchestra will present "Delony Plays Shostakovich" for its spring concert to be performed Monday, May 4.
The performance will feature famed pianist Willis Delony of the LSU School of Music who will perform Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 35."
The concert will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond. General admission tickets are $10; Southeastern students are admitted free with their student ID card. Tickets are available at the Columbia Theatre box office at 220 East Thomas St., at columbiatheatre.org, or at the door on the night of the concert. Call 985-543-4371 for ticket information.
Under the direction of conductor Yakov Voldman, the orchestra will open with Edvard Grieg's "Holberg Suite" to be followed by Shostakovich's "Chamber Symphony, Op 110a."
Generally regarded as the greatest symphonist of the mid-20th century, Shostakovich played a significant part in the musical life of the former Soviet Union, as composer, teacher, and writer. He was also an active pianist, frequently performing his own works until disability prevented him. He died in 1975.
Other pieces on the program include Giuseppe Verdi's Overture from the opera "Nabucco" and "O don fatale" from the opera "Don Carlos," featuring soprano Dana Arthur of Abita Springs.
The concert will also include George Handel's "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba." Chase Ledet of Houma and Cara Tunstall of Mandeville will perform oboe solos in the piece.
For more information, contact the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at 985-549-2184.
