What we call classical music was the popular music of its day. And popular music now is mostly shaped by classical conventions. Frank Morelli and Nenad Ivović bring the music of Bernstein, Weill, Gershwin, and yes, Brahms and Ellington, wherein the genres are blurred and the dots become connected.
This concert is made possible, in part, with the generous support of the Brian Wallach Agency, White Plains, New York. Personal and Commercial Insurance since 1949.
Introduced to the bassoon in the Massapequa, LI, NY public schools, Woodbridge, CT resident Frank Morelli later studied with Stephen Maxym, and was the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by The Juilliard School. He has appeared as a soloist on Carnegie Hall’s mainstage on nine occasions and performed regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for over thirty years, including at the Whitehouse for the final State Dinner of the Clinton Presidency. Morelli recently retired after 45 years as Co-Principal Bassoon of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Entering his 33nd year in 2026 as Associate Professor Adjunct of bassoon and chamber music at the Yale School of Music, he held faculty positions in the past at the Aaron Copland School of Music (2020-2024), The Juilliard School (1991-2021), SUNY Stony Brook (2004-2023), and the Manhattan School of Music (1989-2026), where he recently retired from the faculty and as a founding member of the woodwind quintet in residence, Windscape.
With nearly 200 CDs to his credit, and following his solo album An die Musik with music of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms on the Musica Solis label, Mr. Morelli has just released From the Soul with music by Jeff Scott, Lori Laitman, Dominick Argento, Wynton Marsalis and Nirmali Fenn. He also has four previous solo CDs on MSR Classics: From the Heart and Romance and Caprice, with pianist Gilbert Kalish, Bassoon Brasileiro with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Baroque Fireworks with Kenneth Cooper. Of his DG recording of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto with Orpheus, Fanfare Magazine stated that this recording “reset a reviewer’s standards at too high a level for comfort in a world more productive of ordinary music making.” The magazine Gramophone wrote: “DG…recorded all of Mozart’s wind concertos with Orpheus players as soloists…Frank Morelli’s Bassoon Concerto is probably the pick of this series.” And “Morelli’s playing is a joy to behold.” The American Record Guide stated: “the bassoon playing … is a good as it gets.” Frank Morelli has also delved into compositions, composers and performers who have ties to the “classical” and jazz worlds. JazzWeekly.com stated of Morelli’s recent foray into jazz (The OX-MO Incident-Capri CD) with saxophonist Keith Oxman: “Morelli makes the usually unwieldy bassoon work wonders…the team bops with delight on a fun filled ‘Surrey With The Fringe On Top.’ Morelli glistens on the classical-themed ‘Full Moon and Empty Arms’ and is elegiac on ‘Three For Five.’” The next album on Capri of this type titled “CLASSICOOL”, to be released in late 2026, is devoted exclusively to composers and performers with ties to the “classical” and jazz worlds. Mr. Morelli is also heard in a supporting role on two CDs by legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter that are also Grammy winners. The Orpheus CD Shadow Dances, that features Frank Morelli, won a 2001 Grammy Award.
A performer or juror at the most prestigious festivals worldwide, he recently retired from Windscape, woodwind quintet in residence at MSM, of which he was a founding member. He can be heard on several CDs with Windscape, including one featuring the music of Maurice Ravel, which includes Morelli’s transcriptions of Mother Goose and Valses nobles et senimentales, both published by TrevCo. His other numerous published transcriptions (also TrevCo), as well as the landmark excerpt book, Stravinsky: Difficult Passages for Bassoon (Boosey & Hawkes) and his unmatched edition of the most celebrated bassoon method, The First Complete Weissenborn Method and Studies, (Carl Fischer) have all proved to be extremely popular.
Nenad Ivović was born in Belgrade in 1993. He started learning piano when he was four. He graduated at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade as the best student of his generation. He won over 15 prizes at the state and international competitions. Some of the most important are: the first prize at VII Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition, Paris in 2016, the first prize (laureate) at the Republic competition of music and ballet schools in Serbia in 2007, the second prize at III International competition “Isidor Bajić” in Novi Sad in 2008, the second prize at the European competition Città di Moncalieri in Italy in 2010, the second prize at the international competition “Arianne Katcz” in Tel Avive in 2015, the third prize in New York at “Jacob Flier” competition in 2015. He won the big International Competition for Young Pianists 'A Step Towards Mastery' in 2013 where he won, apart from the first prize, both the best Russian composer performance and an extraordinary performance prize. He performed in the finals of the competition with Saint Petersburg Philharmonic orchestra. He was a semi- finalist of International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in 2014 and he won the prize for the best pianist from Serbia. He was awarded by the Faculty of Music with the prize "Emil Hajek" and the prize from “Olga Mihailović” foundation as the most talented pianist.
He performed at the concerts in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Russia, USA. The most important are the concert in Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, where he was invited by the European organization for young musicians, as well as the solo recital in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
He participated at the famous master courses in Israel and USA, where he collaborated with the most important pianists and piano teachers in the world, such as: Dmitri Bashkirov, Emanuel Krasovsky, Tatiana Zelikman, Viktor Derevianko, Alon Goldstein and the others.
He finished master studies with Emanuel Krasovsky at the Music schools at the Tel Aviv University which was named by the famous conductor Zubin Mehta, who is the director of the school. In September 2017, he continued his studies at the prestigious Yale University with the professor Boris Berman.