Lucas Casagrande, cello
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Italian-Brazilian cellist Lucas Casagrande started playing guitar at the age of 9 years old and switched to the cello at the age of 15 at the Fabio Marasca Music School, in his hometown, Rio Claro, Brazil, and soon became a member of the Rio Claro Symphony Orchestra Lucas was invited to the Fukuda Music Institute in 2014, where he would have lessons with Dr. William Teixeira before being accepted into the University of Sao Paulo in 2016, where he was a founding member of the Fratres Cello Ensemble. He concluded his bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance in 2020, under the guidance of Dr. Andre Micheletti. In 2022, Lucas was invited to fulfill the cello studio at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, with a full scholarship and studying with Dennis Parker.
Invited to many festivals, as a student, to the famous Santa Catarina Festival in Brazil, the Fiato al Brasile Festival in Faenza, Italy, twice, and as an instructor into the Paraguacu Paulista Winter Music Festival, Lucas has also played in many masterclasses with important teachers and international acclaimed musicians like Helga Winold, Hans Jensen, Sihao-He, L. Fernando Venturelli and Soo Bae.
Thought his career, Lucas worked as a soloist with the Ribeirao Preto Symphony Orchestra, Rio Claro Symphony Orchestra, University of Sao Paulo Experimental Repertory Group, and worked as orchestra member with many institutions such as the prestigious Campinas Symphony Orchestra. He began his master’s degree journey in 2023 at West Chester University, studying with Dr. Ovidiu Marinescu and being awarded the Allan Falick Cello Scholarship for two years in a row.
Lucas plays in a Stradivari model copy made by Brazilian violinmaker Davi Garcia in 2020.
Sofia Ramirez, violin
She began to study violin in her natal Coahuila, Mexico. She was a member of local-land national youth orchestras before beginning her formal studies in Zacatecas, Mexico. She has participated in multiple festivals and forums and received masterclasses from Sergei Gorbenko, Natalia Gvosdetskaya, Cuauhtémoc Rivera, Jorge Risi, as well as the “Cuarteto White”, the “Cuarteto Latinoamericano”, "Amethyst Quartet", among others. She is now pursuing a master's degree in West Chester.
Kira Denlinger, violin
Kira Denlinger recently graduated from Millersville University with degrees in Mathematics Education and Music. During her undergraduate career, she studied violin with Dr. Vera Volchansky, and served as concertmaster and librarian of the Millersville University Orchestra. Kira has performed in masterclasses for notable musicians including violinist Jassen Todorov, the Harlem String Quartet, and the American String Quartet. She is currently in her first year as a graduate assistant as a Violin Performance major at the Wells School of Music.
Geovani Flores, viola
Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, Geovani began his formal studies in 2015 in Escuela Superior de Musica in Mexico City with Professor Alexander Buck. Geovani has attended multiple festivals in cities such as Puebla, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, Querétaro, Guerrero, and Mexico City. He has received lessons from renowned violists such as Kathryn Steely, Astrid Lucia, Raúl Munguía, Roberto Díaz, among others. He has played in different orchestras under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Enrique Diemecke, Gustavo Rivero, and Rodrigo Macías. He was recently a member of OJUEM, and is now pursuing a Master’s degree on performance with Professor Adriana Linares
Frankie Jacquette, flute
Frankie Jacquette is an MM student in flute performance at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as principal flute of the WCU Symphony Orchestra, and he is the most recent winner of the WCU Wind Symphony Concerto Competition. Additionally, Frankie specializes in low flutes, particularly contrabass flute, having won competitions with the National Flute Association and the International Low Flutes Society, playing in their professional flute choirs.
Hannah Richards, viola
Hannah Richards studied the violin with Stanley Yoder and Carlos Rubio before making the transition to viola, studying with Shelley Beard and Adriana Linares. She took part in the Young Musicians Community Orchestra of Souderton PA and the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County and attended the Dali Quartet Camp and Festival throughout middle and high school. She received a double bachelor's degree in Viola performance and Arts Management at the Hartt School of music in CT, studying under Steve Larson and performs with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra conducted by Allan R. Scott. She is currently obtaining her master's degree in Viola performance under Adriana Linares.
Jesús Morales-Matos, cello
Jesús A. Morales Matos was born into a prominent musical family and is an active soloist, recording artist, and chamber musician. As a member of the Dalí Quartet, Jesus is on faculty at West Chester University as part of the quartet's residency. His students have been accepted into esteemed music schools such as the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale University, and Temple University
Mr. Morales solo appearances include the Philharmonia Bulgarica, the San Bernardino Symphony, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico, the Camerata Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Starling Chamber Orchestra, and the Festival de Orquestas Sinfonica Juvenil de las Americas.
Mr. Morales holds a bachelor’s degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music and has done postgraduate work at The Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Dr. Ronald Crutcher, Alan Harris, Helga Winold, and Yehuda Hanani. He studied chamber music with Peter Oundjian among others.
StringQuartetOp.18No4,LudwigvanBeethoven(1798-1800)
The legendary Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated 2 years of his early life to cautiously studying all of Mozart’s and Haydn’s String quartet before starting to write his own Opus 18 is the result of this hardworking activity. The Op. 18 collection is sometimes difficult to study historically because the manuscripts no longer exist and much about them is conjecture or guesses. The fourth quartet is unique in the set in that there is no evidence that sketches or drafts of this quartet can be found. He would often draw upon earlier works when looking for inspiration, keeping journals of sketches and notes. As with all the Op. 18 quartets, the String Quartet No. 4 follows the four-movement format. The second movement is a fugal scherzo rather than the more typical slow movement. Third movement is a interesting menuetto where Beethoven starts his experimentation with dynamic markings and concluding with a brilliant and virtuoso fourth movement.
AssobioàJato,HeitorVillaLobos(1950)
Villa Lobos is, by far, the most well-known and acclaimed Brazilian composer of all time. His music is a perfect combination of Brazilian culture with classical forms and traditions that he learned studying in France with Hector Berlioz. The Assobio à Jato, or Jet Whistle, is a remarkable duet for cello and flute where the composer uses different textures and ranges of both instruments to create the same musical lines, but with different effects, showing that Brazil’s colors can be represented by the diverse backgrounds, and saying the exact same thing. The nickname “Jet Whistle” comes from an effect made the flute at the very end of the piece, where the performer blows into the flute, creating this interesting sound that resembles a whistle. The word “Assobio” is Portuguese for “whistle,” however, “whistle” can also be translated to “Apito”, representing the tool used by coaches and officers to call the attention of everybody around. It is interesting to observe this piece with these two meanings in mind, since the tool described is often used as a musical instrument in Brazilian popular music such as Samba. Villa Lobos’s music is a major source of Brazilian imagery, alongside with great novelists as Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto and José Geraldo Vieira. For many reasons, when I play his music, it feels like home.
DuetmitZweiObligatenAugenglasern,LudwigvanBeethoven(1796)
The famous “Eyeglass” duet was born out of a friendship between Beethoven and the Baron Nikolaus Domanowecz, a talented amateur cellist. The nickname came not only from the title but also due to the fact the performers used glasses to be able to read the music. The term “Obligaten” can be translated as “mandatory,” referring both to the use of glasses but also to the two voices who need to be highlighted. The duet is a collaboration where the cello and the viola share the same themes and bass lines, alternating when they are played.
DanzasLatinoamericanas,JoseElizondo(2017)
Commissioned by and dedicated to the famous Mexican Cellist Carlos Prieto, the Danzas Latinoamericanas are a small suite containing three movements, each one based in traditional dances from Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, respectively. The first one, Otono en Buenos Aires (Autumn in Buenos Aires) is based on the amazing concert-style tangos of the giants Astor Piazzola and Carlos Gardel. The second, Pan de Azucar (Sugar Loaf), recalls the sensuous elements of the bossa nova style from great Brazilian musicians from the first part of the 20th century, such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Vinicius de Moraes. The name is a Spanish translation from the famous mountain in Rio de Janeiro. The third movement, Atardecer Tapatio (Sunset in Guadalajara) is based on the sound and rhythm of Mexican traditional ‘mariachi’ bands, filled with joy and excitement. Jose Elizondo is a Mexican composer with his music being played and appreciated all over the world by now.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like, first, to acknowledge my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and His Father, Who gave me the gift and the call on Earth to be a musician.
I would also like to acknowledge my parents, who under the circumstances of being eight thousand miles away from the Ware Family Recital Hall, could not be here tonight, but without them I could not ever have got this far. I still remember my father at the airport, putting his hand on my chest and saying: Make it Count
I also acknowledge my mentor and friend, Dr. Ovidiu Marinescu, not only for the guidance, respect, and kindness, but especially for giving me the only thing that I ever wanted: a chance!
I deeply appreciate all my wonderful colleagues in West Chester University. All the people who I have collaborated with. People who pushed me to be better. A better person, a better musician, a better man. People who I have never even talked to but shared the same amazing experience of being around the Swope Building, a place that will always be my second home.
Finally. I would like to give a profound respect and appreciation for the Wells School of Music, for all the overwhelming opportunities. You all gave more than I will ever deserve, and I will be grateful for all of you forever.