Our Music Staff

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC & ORGANIST

Recognized at a very early age for his talent, André Courville began his keyboard studies at the age of eight and accepted his first church job at twelve.  After graduating as valedictorian of Cecilia High School, Courville was awarded a full music and academic scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans.  There he studied organ with Drs. Bruce Frank and Jerry Davidson.  As a result of Hurricane Katrina, he moved to Buffalo, New York where he studied with James Bigham at Canisius College.
A gifted baritone, Courville recently made his operatic debut in New York City as Hermann, Schlémil, and Crespel in The Tales of Hoffmann with the Martina Arroyo Foundation.  Other operatic roles include Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Marquis d’Obigny in La Traviata at Opera in the Ozarks.  He performed roles in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and Delibe’s Lakmé with the Loyola Opera Theatre, and has performed with the New Orleans Opera Association.  In 2005, he had the honor of performing the bass solo in Dave Brubeck’s Pange Lingua Variations with members of the Buffalo Philharmonic and the composer at the piano.  Concert performances include Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39, and the bass solos in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Requiem with the Loyola University Chorale and Orchestra, as well as the bass solo in J. S. Bach’s Cantata 82:  Ich habe genug with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra.
In 2007, Courville appeared as the featured performer at an organ concert in commemoration of the Philadelphia Baptist Association’s 300^th anniversary and participated in their gala concert at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts’ Verizon Hall.  In addition to concert work, he has had success as a liturgical organist and choir director.  After holding positions at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church and St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans, he was appointed the seventh Director of Music and Organist at the historic First Baptist Church of Philadelphia.  There he succeeded his teacher, Alan Morrison, in a long line of distinguished musicians.  Most recently, Courville was featured as an organ soloist with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra.
Returning to Louisiana in 2008, André Courville accepted the position of Music Director and Organist at Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church in Lafayette.

FLUTIST

Flutist Andrea Kapell Loewy holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree from Emporia State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Memphis University. Her teachers have included Joseph Mariano, Harold Bennett, Samuel Baron, Philip Kaplan, Bruce Erskine, and John Heiss. She played with the Mid-America Woodwind Quintet. Prior to her present job as Professor of Flute/Theory and Graduate Coordinator of the School of Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, she was Adjunct Flute Instructor at Rhodes College. In 1993, she was awarded the University of Southwestern Louisiana’s “Distinguished Professor Award,” and is the recipient of an Endowed Professorship Award. Loewy is Principal Flutist of the Acadiana Symphony and has played several concertos with the orchestra.  Loewy has participated in three concert/teaching tours to China and has performed at many national flute conventions, including those in New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Dallas, and New York City. She has also served as Chair of the National Flute Association’s Newly-Published Music Committee. Centaur Records recently released her CD of contemporary flute works titled Apparitions and Whimsies.

VIOLINIST

Borislava Iltcheva started playing the violin at age of 5.  Ms. Iltcheva holds a Bachelor degree from the Bulgarian National Academy, Masters and Doctorate Degrees in violin performance form Louisiana State University. Her principal Violin Teachers include Alexander Iltchev, Evgenia Maria Popova and Kevork Mardirossian. Borislava holds prizes from several National and International Competitions such as “Closter Shöntal” International Violin Competition, MTNA Chamber Music Competition, LSU Deans Concerto Competition, “Saverio Mercadante” International Competition and others. Ms. Iltcheva has an active schedule as a Soloist and chamber musician. She has been featured as a soloist with the Louisiana Symphonietta, Baton Rouge Symphony and Acadiana Symphony among many others. She has performed recitals throughout Europe and the US. Ms. Iltcheva is the Concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.  Recent performances include an appearance in Carnegie Hall in New York in May, 2009 as well as a two-week European tour with recitals in Greece and Croatia.

VOCALISTS

Soprano Sasha Massey is equally at home in the realms of classical music, musical theatre, jazz, and African American Spirituals.  She graduated from the University of Louisiana Lafayette in 2009 as a student of Shawn Roy.  Operatic roles include Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mercedes in Carmen, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Mistress Overdone in Isabel.  Her musical theatre backgrounds includes rolls in Les Miserables as Madame Thenardier, Into the Woods as Stepmother, Seussical the Musical, Nunsense as Sister Hubert, and Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know.  She most recently appeared as a soloist in the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra’s annual Christmas concert.

Brandon Breaux is the Director of Vocal Music at Westgate High School in New Iberia.  There, he directs the Women’s Chorus, Mixed Chorus, Show Choir, and musical theatre productions, while maintaining a solo voice studio.  He received his Bachelor degree in Vocal Music Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and was a voice student of Margaret Daniel.  At UL, Brandon has appeared in The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, and Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know.

 

Andrea Mouton, soprano, is a native of Lafayette Louisiana. She earned her Master of Music degree at the Louisiana State University in 2008, while studying with Dr. Loraine Sims. Her opera and theater roles include Cunegonda in Candide, Prima Sorella Cercatrice in Suor Angelica, Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Monica in The Medium, and Domina and Gymnasia in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. In 2007 she was the Assistant Director for the LSU Performance of Willie Stark, which was professionally recorded. Miss Mouton also had the privilege of singing with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra on the 2009 ‘Sounds of the Season’ Christmas Concert, and with Chorale Acadienne as Mimi in scenes from La Boheme, as well as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C.