Passion

Trained in the United States and France, Louise Billaud studied under the guidance of her future husband, French-born American pianist and professor Jean-Paul Billaud. Through him she felt the influence of his former teachers: French Masters Marguerite Long, Jacques Février, Alfred Cortot, and Polish pianist Auguste de Radwan who had studied in Vienna with the famed Theodor Leschetizky. Laureate of several piano competitions, she took first prize in the Maxim Shapiro Memorial Piano Competition, second in the International Piano Recording Competition, first prize in the Bartók-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition and was semi-finalist in the International Web Concert Hall Competition with Kent Holliday's Incantations from the Popol Vuh. She was also honored with the Award for Exemplary Performance from Radford University. She has performed in the United States and Europe with orchestra, in solo recitals, chamber music and lecture-recitals and as a featured artist in several festivals in France. Having a special interest in diabetes research, Louise Billaud has toured for the benefit of the American Diabetes Association. Louise Billaud has released three recordings and a DVD lecture-recital entitled Mazeppa - An Inspirational Living Legend. She recently premiered the four-movement Sonata for Piano by American composer Kent Holliday written for and dedicated to her.