McNeese to Host a Piano Concert Featuring Dr. Lina Morita

The McNeese State University W.A. and Dorothy Hanna Performing Arts Department will present a free piano concert featuring Dr. Lina Morita, McNeese professor of music, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 16, in Tritico Theatre.

The concert will open with “Miniaturas” and “Mazurka Española” by the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce. Morita was recently invited by the Ponce Music Project Foundation to present a series of concerts of Ponce’s solo works in Mexico City and Houston, Texas.

The audience will also hear Frédéric Chopin’s “B minor Sonata” and Maurice Ravel’s musical depiction of Aloysius Bertrand’s poem, “Ondine” from “Gaspard de la nuit.” The program will close with a set of pieces by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Morita, a Japanese-Brazilian pianist, received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music, the Master of Music degree from Rice University and the Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University.

She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 and her international career has taken her throughout the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Spain, France and the Czech Republic. The latest CD, “Landscapes,” with guitarist Jay Kacherski released by Frameworks Records in the fall of 2022, has been deemed “an impressive album both in music and performances” by Soundboard Magazine and that “Kacherski and Morita are both virtuosi and play exceptionally well together.”

Persons requesting accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should contact the Office of Campus Compliance and Civility at least 72 hours before the event. Additional information is available from the Office of Campus Compliance and Civility, located in the Burton Business Center, Suite 407, by phone at 337-475-5428, by fax at 337-475-5603, or by email at compliance@mcneese.edu.