Dr. Louise Billaud of New River Valley Community College will present One Note At A Time: A Beginner’s Guide to a Lifetime of Exploration. After a short break, she will present Kabalevsky Preludes: an intimate look into the Russian soul of a Soviet composer.
Trained in the United States and France, Louise Billaud studied under the guidance of her husband, French-born American professor, Steinway artist Jean-Paul Billaud. Through him she felt the influence of his former teachers: Marguerite Long, Jacques Février, Alfred Cortot and Polish pianist Auguste de Radwan.
Laureate of several piano competitions and winner of the Bartók-Kabalevsky International Competition, she was recently recognized as a 2015 American Prize semi-finalist. She has performed in the United States and Europe in solo and lecture-recitals and as soloist with orchestra, including lecture-recitals at the 2009 and 2019 CMS International Conferences in Croatia and Belgium. Her recordings include three compact discs and a DVD featuring the lecture-recital Mazeppa – An Inspirational Living Legend.
Billaud received her BM in Piano Performance from the University of Alaska and MA degree from Radford University in Virginia. In 2014, she received the Outstanding Faculty Award by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), earned a D.M.A. in Music Education from Boston University and was honored by the National Association for Music Education ACME SRIG with the award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation. Dr. Billaud has presented research findings at NAfME, Suncoast Music Education Research Symposium and Music and Lifelong Learning national and international conferences. She was Keynote Speaker for the Virginia Community College System’s New Faculty Forum and for Education Symposia.
Most recently honored with the 2018 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, Professor Billaud teaches Music in Society, History of Western Music, History of Jazz, World Music and Fundamentals in lecture and online formats at New River Community College.
“Meet” Dr. Billaud here: https://youtu.be/mUrWwbA-7fA
