Horn and piano duo to present a jazz and classical program

Contact: Dannielle Sturgeon

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Widely versed in both the classical and jazz idioms, Adam Unsworth and Willis Delony will bring a unique musical sensibility and breadth of experience to the horn and piano duo setting in a performance at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, in Western Michigan University’s Dalton Center Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Willis Delony

Photo of Willis Delony.

Delony

In a career spanning over three decades, pianist Delony has won acclaim as a leading classical and jazz crossover artist. His concert explorations of the two musical worlds are showcased in a series of solo piano recordings on the Centaur label. "A New World A' Comin'–Classical and Jazz Connections" was released in 2001. "Double Dance–Classical and Jazz Connections II" was released in 2008, while the final installment of the series, "Out of Character–Classical and Jazz Connections III," was released in October 2014.

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. Delony has appeared as piano soloist, guest pianist/arranger or conductor with orchestras throughout the United States as well as with orchestras in Canada, the former Soviet Union and China. As a solo and collaborative recitalist, he has performed classical and jazz concerts throughout the U.S.—including a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in October 2014—as well as France, Germany, the former Soviet Union, Mexico and Brazil.

Adam Unsworth

Photo of Adam Unsworth.

Unsworth

Professor of horn at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Unsworth is dedicated to commissioning and performing works of living composers, expanding the modern repertoire to extended the boundaries of the horn. He has five recordings as a leader to his credit that encompass a wide variety of music: "Balance" (2014), a jazz recording for horn, jazz sextet and chamber orchestra, "Snapshots" (2013), a recording or contemporary classical music in collaboration with composer/pianist Catherine Likhuta, "Just Follow Instructions" (2009), featuring the chamber music of saxophonist/composer Daniel Schnyder, "Next Step" (2008) and "Excerpt This!"

Unsworth is a member of the Gil Evans Centennial Project big band, which has received two Grammy nominations for its recordings Centennial and Lines of Color, and won the 2013 Jazz Journalist Association Award for Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year. Prior to his appointment at the University of Michigan, he was Fourth Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Second Horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

For more information about the concert, visit wmich.edu/music or call (269) 387-4667.

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